Stargazing
by JohnGreenGirl
Summary: It all starts with a kiss during a night of stargazing. Tulie. Somewhere between a proper story and a set of connected one shots. ***Characterization not always entirely canon, does NOT follow the show to a T. Certain changes are made, and I reserve the right as an author to make them.
1. Stargazing

Tim wouldn't lie and say he had thought much about Julie Taylor before living with her. His thoughts about the girl had never gone beyond 'Coach's daughter' or 'Saracen's girl'. But she wasn't Saracen's girl anymore.

She was still Coach's daughter, though. That should have been enough to keep certain thoughts out of Tim's head.

Like how cute she looked at breakfast time on the weekends, her hair tousled and her face bare of makeup.

Or how easily he'd managed to memorize the pattern of freckles across her nose.

Or how when she read a book, she was oblivious to everything around her, and how much he liked watching her in her own world.

But even having Coach Taylor under the same roof, more often than not in the same _room_ , had not been enough to keep the thoughts from sprouting in his head.

Not that Tim ever acted on them. He knew better than that, though that wasn't to say he didn't very much want to act on them.

But one night, Time walked passed a window in the Taylor household to see Julie laying in the backyard, her face turned skyward.

A bemused smile spread across Tim's face as he ducked out the back door.

"What are you doing out here, Taylor?" he asked. The sound of his voice startled Julie into sitting up.

"There's gonna be a meteor shower," Julie told him. Even in the dark, Tim could make out the excitement in her eyes.

"Have you ever seen one?" She asked, and Tim shook his head. Julie scooted over on the blanket she'd placed on the ground.

"Come watch with me."

Now, in all his life, Tim Riggins had never paid much attention to the stars in the sky. He would even go so far as to say he didn't give a damn about them under different circumstances. But nothing would have stopped him from looking at the stars with Julie Taylor that night.

"Alright," he'd said in his Texas drawl, flopping himself down beside her on the blanket.

"I love meteor showers," Julie told him. He liked the childlike excitement in her voice. "One of the only good things about living in Dillon is that there isn't a lot of light pollution."

Tim had never heard of light pollution before, but he nodded at her, happy enough to be laying on that blanket with her. There had been many times he'd imagined hanging out with Julie, but he never thought he actually would.

Julie Taylor wasn't like the girls he usually hung around, and they both knew that all too well. Tim had kept his distance from her for good reason, even though it went against what he wanted.

"You have no idea what that means, do you?" Julie asked him, turning her face from the sky to look at him.

Tim smiled sheepishly at her. "Not a damned clue."

She giggled, and an urge to kiss her swelled up inside Tim's chest, which he promptly suppressed. This was Julie Taylor. Not Tyra or Lyla or one of the countless rally girls.

This girl was too good for Tim. Or so he thought.

Too good or not, Julie and Tim kept looking at each other in silence. He could feel the tension between the two of them, but it was broken when a flash of light caught Julie's eye.

"Look!" She exclaimed, grabbing Tim's hand in one of hers and using the other to point to the sky. "It's starting."

Julie didn't let go of his hand, not even when they had both moved to look at the streaks of light moving across the sky. On impulse, Tim moved his hand inside hers, threading their fingers together.

For just a moment, Julie looked away from the sky to smile at him. She still didn't try to remove her hand from his.

Even though Tim watched the flash of meteors up above, he was really more focused on how soft and small Julie's hand was in his.

"Isn't it pretty?" Julie said in a reverent whisper. Her eyes were following the trails left by the meteors, so that she didn't notice Tim's gaze fixed on her. In Tim's opinion, Julie's excitement and wonder was a better view than the meteors themselves.

The meteor shower doesn't last long—ten minutes, tops—but neither make a move to get up when the last meteor fades from their sight. They stay laying on the blanket, hands intertwined.

"I never would have thought Tim Riggins would go stargazing," Julie teased, turning her head to look at Tim.

Tim shrugged. "Only if Julie Taylor asked him to."

Julie smiled wide at Tim, her nose crinkling. "Not even for Tyra or Lyla?"

"Neither of them would ever think to go stargazing."

"Or for one of the rally girls?"

This time, Tim chuckled. "Julie, you know those girls only think about doing one thing with the Dillon Panthers."

Julie laughed and sat up, making sure their hands were still connected as she looked down at him.

"You're not as tough as you look, you know. I've seen you play with Gracie Bell."

"Well, that's not fair. No one looks tough playing with a baby."

"I've also seen the way you bow your head and say 'Yes, ma'am' to my mom."

Tim laughed. "Hey, now. Mrs. Coach can be a scary lady."

"Just take my compliment," Julie said with an eye roll. "I meant it in a good way."

"Alright," Tim said with an easy smile. "So I'm not as tough as I look."

They were quiet for a few moments, Julie looking down at Tim where he lay on the blanket. Tim's thumb drew lazy circles along Julie's palm as they sat in an easy silence.

"You know, I'm really glad you came here to live with us," Julie told him. "I don't think I ever would have gotten to know the real Tim Riggins if you didn't. I like the real Tim Riggins."

"Oh, do you now?" Tim asked, his tone flirty enough to give Julie the courage to bend down to where he lay on the blanket.

Her lips were confident and sure, pressing against his. Tim reached up with his free hand to cup the back of her head, pulling her in just a little bit closer. He knew this kiss was different than any kiss he'd had with any other girl. This one wasn't going to lead to a fling or a bad decision.

This kiss was genuine. When Julie pulled away from him ever so slightly, she smiled and said, "Mhmm. I really do like the real Tim Riggins."


	2. Chrysalism

**_Chrysalism_**

* * *

Chrysalism: _n._ the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand perfectly.

* * *

Among Julie Taylor's long list of complaints against Dillon, Texas is this:

It almost never rains.

And if there's one thing Julie loves, it's rainstorms.

Lucky for her, one humid Saturday in April finally breaks a record dry spell and the sky opens up, unleashing sheets of rain.

A certain Tim Riggins is still living with the Taylors, though he is still asleep when the rain starts at 9 a.m. It wakes Julie, putting a wide smile on her face as she bounces out of her bed to look out her window.

The smile doesn't leave her face as she all but skips happily to the kitchen, not minding if it made noise as she passed Tim asleep on the couch. Living with the Taylors had been good for Tim—less drinking, consistent meals, reliable people. Even though Tim's brother had offered a few times to let Tim move back in, honestly, Tim didn't want to.

He liked the surprises at the Taylor house. Such as waking up to the sound of Julie Taylor making hot chocolate in early April. Coach, Mrs. Coach, and Gracie Bell were all gone. Tami wanted to return to work as a school counselor, and there was a professional development in Austin, and Eric hadn't wanted her to go alone…and thus, three of the four Taylors were gone for half a week.

And they'd left Tim and Julie alone in the house. Tim and Julie, who had kissed just two weeks ago. Of course, Julie was the only Taylor out of four who knew that. She was the only one who knew about the stargazing kiss, and all the secret, stolen ones that had come after that one.

"Jules, it has to be like ninety degrees outside, what are you doin'?" Tim asks, lifting his head from his pillows. His always too long hair is wild, but Julie likes it. The sight makes her smile.

"Y'know, hot chocolate gets a bad rap, with all the seasonal crap. I mean, people drink hot coffee and hot tea in the summer, so why not hot chocolate?" Julie says over her shoulder as she waits for the milk to boil.

Tim smiles at her, slow and lazy. "This is Texas. Nobody drinks hot tea here."

"I like to drink hot chocolate when it's raining. Is that such a crime?" Julie asks, smirking at Tim's confused expression.

"It's raining?" He asks, pulling himself from the couch. Tim is only wearing pajama pants—a request from Tami—and his chest was left bare. Julie feels heat rise into her face as she blushes.

You would think, with Tim's history, that the absence of Julie's parents would inspire him to do _more_ than kiss Julie. But, a little to Julie's surprise, he hadn't.

If it were any other girl, maybe Tim would have. Not Julie Taylor, though. He wanted her in his life long-term, not just for a fling. So, even though he had thought about it, and even though he certainly wants to, he doesn't make a move like that toward Julie.

While stirring her hot chocolate, Julie watches Tim pull back the curtain on the living room window and peek outside. Rain is coming down in sheets thick enough that the neighbor's house is obscured from view.

As Tim looks outside, a bolt of lightning lights up his face and is soon followed by a loud clap of thunder.

"Oh, good!" Julie says, relief flooding her voice. "It _is_ a thunderstorm."

Tim stoops to his bag, which has all of his clothes in it, and pulls on a Bud Light t-shirt. Though he's been living with the Taylor's for a little over a month, he hasn't unpacked, really. This living arrangement is _supposed_ to be temporary, but Tim had heard Coach trying to wear his wife down and convince her to let Tim stay longer.

Which explains Tim's better, if not good, behavior. He's even been doing some homework under the sharp gaze of Tami Taylor. He likes living at the Taylors'. He likes having a family for the first time in his life, and he doesn't really want to give it up. Not yet. Not now that there are things going on with Julie.

Once his shirt is on, Tim strolls over to the kitchen. Julie has taken a seat at the kitchen table.

"So first stars, and now rain, huh?"

"You don't have to stay if you think it's lame," Julie says, ducking her head as a blush came into her cheeks.

"Why would I want to go anywhere?" Tim counters, taking her hot chocolate mugs from her hand and taking a sip without asking. Over the rim of the cup, he gives Julie a wink.

They are both aware that this much alone time would not be a common occurrence. _If,_ and that was a mighty _if_ , the Taylors found out about Tim and their oldest daughter, both knew they would be watched with hawk-like attention.

Julie smiles up at him as he asks, "What are the big rainy day plans?"

"You'll probably think it's boring, but I always watch movies on rainy days."

Tim honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd watched a full movie. Sometimes he and Tyra would start watching a movie, but they somehow always got _distracted_ before the conclusion.

"Movies aren't boring. If they're good movies."

"What about Disney movies?"

And this is the morning conversation that brought Tim Riggins to where he is now: Sprawled on the Taylors' couch, watching _Mulan_ , Julie Taylor laying against his chest, and rain coming down hard and heavy outside.

Julie likes how well they fit together. Her head tucks perfectly underneath Tim's chin. Their tangled together legs are actually comfortable. They kind of just fell into position perfectly, without all of the constant readjusting she had with Matt. It's dumb and cliché, but it reminded her of two puzzle pieces coming seamlessly together.

And Julie _really_ likes the way, every so often, she feels Tim press a kiss into her hair.


	3. Hooky

**_Hooky_**

* * *

School is a place that Tim and Julie have decided, by unspoken agreement, that they should not interact. Dillon is a small town, and a rumor would not take more than a day to reach the ears of Julie's parents.

The only interaction they have at school happens in the mornings when Tim and Julie go to school together. Both have to be at school earlier than other students—Tim for football, Julie for dance team. Coach Taylor and Tami have to be at school even earlier than they do, and as Julie does not yet have her own car, it only made sense for Tim to give Julie rides.

They spend the whole ride to school every day holding hands.

Today, though, Tim decides to break their silent rule. At lunch time, he makes it a point to jump the line so he is just behind Julie.

"Ever skipped school, Jules?" He whispers into her ear, his warm breath making a small shiver run down her spine.

"We can't skip together," Julie whispers back to him. "My parents would know."

"Would they?" Tim asks, a devilish twinkle in his eye. "Afternoon practice was cancelled. And your mom took half the day off. Gracie Bell has a check-up today, remember?"

Tim watches as Julie stares down at the milk choices in front of her. He knows she isn't really choosing between chocolate or white milk.

"C'mon, Jules. I'll make it worth your while." After a few seconds, Julie sighs.

"Fine. But I want to eat lunch first."

"Fine," Tim says, an easy smile taking over his face. "Meet me at my truck after lunch, then."

Julie goes and sits down to eat with some of the girls from her dance team. Smirking, Tim takes his tray and sits down beside Smash Williams at the table all the football players eat at.

Down the table, Matt Saracen shoots him a look. He must have seen Tim cut the lunch line to get behind Julie. Not that Tim really cares—what is he doing to do? Say Tim can't talk to Julie? It's not like Julie and Matt are together anymore. Besides, he and Julie are practically roommates. Tim could have any reason in the world to talk to her.

Tim smiles at Matt before taking a big bite out of his ham sandwich. For his part, Matt breaks eye contact to look down at his own tray.

It is five minutes passed the end of lunch hour when Julie makes it to Tim's truck, a worried expression on her face.

"I didn't want to get caught," she explains once she's in the cab of the truck. "So I went to my locker and I got my homework, and then I went to the bathroom and waited for the bell to ring."

Julie bites her lip, and Tim would like to kiss her then and there, but he holds himself back. There are too many watching eyes around Dillon High.

"I just walked out," Tim says with a laugh, throwing the truck into reverse before peeling out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Julie asks, reaching across the middle seat to take one of his hands.

"I know a place," Tim answers vaguely. "You have your phone with you, right? The clock went out on this truck a long time ago, and we'll need a way to watch the time."

"Yeah, um, it's in my bag." It is sinking in that she, Julie Taylor, is skipping school. With Tim Riggins. Her heart rate picks up, pounding against her ribcage.

The adrenaline rush is intoxicating. She squeezes Tim's hand and turns to him with a huge smile on her face before bouncing forward to plant a kiss on his cheek.

She does it quickly, knowing they need to be careful. But when she pulls away, she sees a faint pinkness to Tim's cheeks as well as a smile tugging at his lips.

Tim drives to the edge of town, and then turns onto a dirt road Julie had never seen before. The unpaved road is bumpy, and despite the seatbelt, Julie is bouncing in her seat. A few miles in, corn stalks overtake the horizon.

"Are we allowed to be here?" Julie asks, looking around nervously.

"No one owns this land, these cornfields have been wild for years."

But past the corn, and nearly as tall, is acres of sunflowers.

"I thought you might like it out here," Tim says, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sometimes me and Billy come rabbit hunting out here. Not a lot of people even know about this place."

"I've never seen so many," Julie wonders aloud. As Tim got to know Julie better, the more she reminded him of sunflowers: Bright, strong, unabashed about who they are.

"C'mon," Julie says, pulling on Tim's hand so that he has no choice but to slide along the seat and follow her out the passenger side door.

She pulls Tim, laughing, into the maze of sunflowers. By luck, because Tim had never known about it before, Julie finds an almost circular clearing among the sunflowers.

Now Tim pulls on her hand, so that they tumble softly to the ground, Tim landing on his back with Julie flush against his chest.

"This is better than school, right?" Tim asks, wrapping his arms around Julie's waist and lifting his head to kiss her.

With the Texas sun warm on her back and Tim's lips on hers, Julie couldn't remember a time she'd been happier here in Dillon.

"Yes," Julie answers, a wide smile on her face. "This is better than school."

Tim smiles back at her before one of his hands finds its way into her hair, bringing her lips back down to his.

It was not often—more like never, if he's being honest with himself—that Tim does nothing more than kiss a girl. But this is _all_ that he does with Julie Taylor. He knows she's a virgin. He knows about how she and Saracen had plans to, but he backed out.

Saracen shared more than you would think in the locker room, especially considering he was talking about Coach's daughter. He may have been QB 1, but he didn't always make the best plays off the field.

Tim was happy enough, though, to hold Julie against him in their private sunshine and have her lips on his.

On the drive back home, Julie spends her time pulling bits of grass from Tim's hair.

They beat her parents home, which isn't surprising when they walk through the door and show both of them the Band-Aids stuck to Gracie Bell's legs.

"Four shots!" Eric exclaims. "I swear they never gave that many at a time when you were a baby, Julie. Four shots! Whoever heard of that! Your poor sister was wailin' her head off."

As for Tim and Julie, they are sitting innocently at the kitchen table, their textbooks open before them. Luckily, neither of her parents notice the slight sunburn on Julie's cheeks or the way her lips are red and almost swollen from her afternoon with Tim.

Julie and Tim send secret smiles to each other as Julie's parents rant about the obscenity of four booster shots at a time. They know they're going to get away with skipping school. The homework was a nice touch—Tim's idea.

In fact, as Eric and Tami walk out of the kitchen to take Gracie Bell to her bedroom, they overhear Eric whisper, "I told you Julie would be good for him. Have you ever known Tim Riggins to do homework without a lot of bashing over the head first?"

Quickly, so as not to be caught, Tim leans over the table with a smile on his face and plants a kiss on Julie's mouth.

"Hear that? You're a good influence on me, Jules."


	4. Friends

**_Friends_**

* * *

"So you friends with Riggins now or something?" Matt's voice behind her makes Julie jump. It's been a few weeks since she and Tim skipped school, but obviously that day did not go unnoticed.

Neither has all the mornings Julie and Tim part ways at school, or the afternoons where Julie heads to the field to do homework and wait for Tim because dance practice always ends before football practice.

And, of course, there was the night before…

 _"_ _C'mon, Jules. You_ know _ice cream sounds good right now."_

 _The two were sitting at the Taylor's kitchen table, studying. Not because Julie was a good influence on Tim, but more because Tim would do anything—even study—to spend time with Julie._

 _"_ _If I don't learn the names and positions of these last fifteen bones, I'm gonna bomb that anatomy test tomorrow, Tim."_

 _Tim wasn't really studying, though he was getting extraordinarily good at twirling his pencil between his fingers._

 _"_ _You need a study break before your brain gets fried."_

 _Julie wanted to say yes, but she knew Tim would want to go to The Alamo Freeze, where Matt works. And what if he was working? Saw them hanging out._

 _"_ _Jules," Tim whined, dramatically laying his head on his arms, looking up at her with a sad expression. "You're killin' me here."_

 _Julie looked down at her anatomy book. Then up to Tim, with his twinkling hazel eyes. Anatomy book. Tim. Anatomy book._

 _"_ _Okay, let's go."_

 _"_ _Go where?" Eric asked, walking into the kitchen with Gracie Bell on his shoulder and an empty bottle in his hand._

 _"_ _To get ice cream, Coach. As a study break. Julie here's gonna lose her mind if she keeps cramming bone names in her head."_

 _"_ _Ice cream," Eric says, looking from his daughter to his fullback. "Ice cream. Yeah, y'all go get you some ice cream. But the two of you better be back within an hour!"_

 _The two were already heading to the door._

 _"_ _Yes, sir, Coach!" Tim said over his shoulder, opening the door for Julie._

 _Julie was right. Tim drove them right to The Alamo Freeze._

 _And who should be working the drive-thru than Matt?_

 _"_ _Oh," Matt said, obviously surprised to see the two sitting in Tim's truck. "Here you go."_

 _With a shocked look on his face, Matt handed Tim a chocolate cone (for Julie) and a strawberry cone (for Tim)._

 _"_ _If, if I'd known it was you guys I would've slipped y'all an extra scoop."_

 _"_ _It's all good, man," Tim said, handing Julie her cone. Their hands brushed as he gave it to her, bringing a blush to Julie's face as she glanced at Matt to see if he noticed._

 _From the look on his face, he did._

 _"_ _See y'all tomorrow," Matt said lamely as Tim drove away._

 _Tim drove in the opposite direction of the Taylor house._

 _"_ _Um, Tim…" Julie said, but Tim shot her a smile._

 _"_ _Your dad said to be back within an hour."_

 _"_ _But it doesn't take that long to get ice cream from The Alamo Freeze."_

 _"_ _Who's to say we didn't eat it_ at _The Alamo Freeze?"_

 _Julie shrugged, catching on to Tim's thought and smiling. Tim drove to the old, shut down laundromat and parked in the back parking lot, away from the streetlights._

 _"_ _Now, unless they try real hard, who's gonna know Tim Riggins and Julie Taylor are sitting on a truck bed and eating ice cream together?"_

 _"_ _No one, I guess," Julie said with a giggle._

 _On the truck bed, Tim wrapped his arm around Julie's shoulders. They sat quietly, eating their ice cream and sneaking looks at each other._

 _"_ _Hey, Jules, hold still. You got some ice cream on your mouth."_

 _Tim lowered his mouth to Julie's, running his tongue over her lower lip. The sensation made a shiver run down Julie's spine and a heat bloom inside her that she'd never known. It was enough to pull herself against Tim, deepening the kiss._

 _When they broke apart several minutes later, both a little lost for breath, Tim smirked at her._

 _"_ _There wasn't any ice cream," he admitted, bringing his mouth back to Julie's._

At her locker, Julie raises her eyes to meet Matt's directly.

"Yeah," she says confidently. "Me and Tim are friends."


	5. Stay

**_Stay_**

* * *

When Tami and Eric call Tim and Julie into the kitchen, they both think the jig is up. They've been found out.

 _Ratted out by Saracen, probably_ , Tim thinks.

 _We weren't careful enough_ , Julie concludes.

They are extra careful not to look at each other. For good measure, Julie lifts herself on the counter farthest from Tim. She's too nervous to speak, instead fixing her eyes on her father.

"Now, I know we said this whole living arrangement was supposed to be a temporary fix for you, Tim," Tami, not Eric, starts.

Julie is nervous her parents—hell, everyone on the block—can hear her heart drumming in her chest. She wants to look at Tim, but she doesn't dare.

"But…Eric and I have been talking it over. We think you're doing really well here, Tim. We would hate to take that away from you. So we've decided to let you finish out high school here—"

Tami isn't finished talking, but she's overcome by her oldest daughter. Julie launches herself off the counter and engulfs her mother in squeals and a hug. Then she hugs her father, and before she can think better of it, she throws her arms around Tim's waist, too.

Eric and Tami take in their daughter's exuberance, which is a stark contrast to Tim, who is standing stock still even as Julie squeezes him.

It is like Tim is frozen in time, his arm reflexively curling around Julie's shoulder as he stares at Eric and Tami.

This is the nicest thing someone has _ever_ done for him, and suffice it to say he doesn't know how to respond.

Until his brain processes what he's been told, and then he's moving away from Julie and hugging Coach. Tim doesn't even care if it's a sissy thing to do, to hug your football coach.

Then he hugs Tami, keeping his head ducked low so no one can see the tears in his eyes. Hugging you football coach—that you _might_ get away with. But crying in front of your girlfriend?

Amongst all the other emotions and thoughts in Tim's head, it's not lost on him that he just thought of Julie as his girlfriend. He's never thought of any girl as an actual girlfriend. Not even Tyra or Lyla. Really, more than anything, he'd like to kiss her right now, to somehow share all the happiness in his body.

But Tim saves that for later.

After Eric and Tami lay down some rules for Tim's extended stay—no drinking in the house, no coming home drunk, homework will be a must, school attendance will be a must, and, just like Julie's lifeguarding, Tim will have to get some sort of job for the summer.

In exchange for all that, Tim gets more or less an actual bedroom, the garage. The Taylors don't use it, anyway.

"We'll get your furniture from Billy," Eric tells him. "And the garage is insulated and all that. Don't think we're sending you out there to die of heat stroke during the summer or anything. It gets central air, just like the house."

Tim Riggins, probably for one of the first times in his life, is truly at a loss for something to say. The only words he can manage to force from his mouth, over and over again, are _thank you, thank you, thank you._

And as for wanting to kiss Julie, Tim saves that for later, when Eric and Tami have gone to bed. With three of the four Taylors sleeping, Tim steals across the house to Julie's bedroom.

The thin strip of light spilling out from underneath her door is all the encouragement Tim needs to quietly open it. Neither of them have ever dared to do anything like this before, for fear of getting caught. But Tim was right to think that, just like him, Julie may be too excited for sleep.

"Jules," he whispers, not wanting to wake anyone. Julie is laying in her bed, reading a book, but when Tim walks in she tosses it aside.

A wide smile is plastered to Julie's face as she jumps from her bed to rush to Tim. Like she did in the kitchen, she throws her arms around Tim. Only this time she doesn't squeal, knowing they have to be quiet.

"You get to stay!" She says in an excited whisper, bouncing on the balls of her feet so that Tim is shaken.

To keep her still, Tim wraps her arms tightly around her and catches her mouth with his.

"Looks like you're gonna be stuck with me for a while, huh?"

The question only sets Julie in motion again, this time to hop from foot to foot.

Tim kisses her again on the mouth. Then on her forehead, and on each cheek, and across the freckles on her nose.

"Okay," he says once he's done, "I gotta go. I'm pretty sure I'll get an eviction notice if I get caught in here with you."

Though Julie hates to see him go, she knows he's right. Reluctantly, she lets Tim go—but from her bedroom door, she watches him walk back to the living room.

Julie goes to bed with the biggest smile stretching her cheeks. She can hardly believe her luck.


	6. Billy

**_Billy_**

* * *

"You two are not very helpful," Julie says, exasperated. Tim glances up at her, appreciating the hot pink bandana Julie has tied around her hair to keep it off her face. He also appreciates the tank top and shorts she's wearing.

Together, they are supposed to be cleaning out the garage. Before Tim can live in the garage, all of its contents need to be boxed and sent to the attic. Eric and Tami have tasked Tim and Julie with the job of getting it done.

Both Eric and Tami are gone, too, off to a lunch and movie date while Tim and Julie babysit Gracie.

In reality, Julie is cleaning while Tim and Gracie play a game where Tim lifts her sundress and blows raspberries on her belly.

"Yeah, but we're sure cute," Tim says over Gracie's peals of laughter.

Julie rolls her eyes and tapes up another box. She pulls a Sharpie out of her back pocket and marks it _Christmas Stuff._

"You think we're cute, right, Gracie Bell?" Tim asks, lifting her high above his head and eliciting more giggles from the baby.

Julie has to admit, in the Saturday sunshine, Tim and Gracie are pretty cute. She stops her packing to admire the two with their bright smiles.

The slamming of a car door distracts both Tim and Julie. As Julie turns to see who it is, she misses the dark expression that settles over Tim's features.

Tim stands immediately and pushes Gracie into Julie's arms.

"Go inside," he says darkly.

Now, Julie doesn't think Tim and this man look all that much alike, but she figures the beer bottle toting man can be none other than Tim's brother Billy. Numbly, she takes her sister from Tim and walks quickly into the house, throwing glances over her shoulder.

She just catches Tim square himself up to Billy.

"What are you doin' here?" Tim all but spits at his brother.

"I reckon I could ask you the same thing, little brother."

It takes all there is in Tim _not_ to punch Billy in the face.

"You know why," he says instead.

Billy scoffs. "Man, I broke up with Jackie. You should come back home. Livin' here, it's ridiculous. This ain't your family."

"No. I wanna be hear."

"Why, man? 'Cause you got a hot piece of ass hanging around here? I saw her when I was driving up. That girl does _not_ look like she's in high school."

Then Tim can't help it anymore, and he punches Billy right in the face.

"It's not about Julie, dumbass! It's about my own brother choosing some chick over me!"

From the ground, Billy glares up at his little brother.

"Ain't that the pot calling the kettle black, Tim. Remember Jason? Sleeping with your best friend's girlfriend?"

"I know I've done stupid stuff. But you…you're always supposed to have _my_ back, Billy. You're the only one who was there my whole life."

Tim doesn't have anything else to say to his brother, so he turns his back to return to the house. This is not the smartest move. While Tim has his back turned, Billy pulls himself from the ground and grabs Tim's shoulder, whirling him around.

Billy's fist lands solidly on his brother's eye, but his hand on Tim's shoulder keeps him from falling to the ground.

"I guess you've made your choice, huh, little brother?" With Billy this close, Tim can smell the beer on his breath. Tim hasn't drank much since coming to live at the Taylor's, and the smell makes his stomach turn.

Tim forces his eye open despite the pain his brother's fist has brought there. He wants to look Billy in the eyes when he says his next words.

"Yeah," Tim says, quietly. Dangerously. "I have. Now go away, Billy."

Tim pulls himself away from Billy's grasp and heads toward the Taylor house.

"But I brought your shit!" Billy calls after Tim. But the younger Riggins brother just ignores him and goes inside.

Julie pokes her head out of Gracie's bedroom when she hears Tim come through the door.

With a small gasp, Julie runs to Tim. "Are you okay?"

Tentatively, Julie touches the bruise already blooming under Tim's eye. It's also swelling, but she can see from the red stain that there's a popped blood vessel, too.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

But Julie worries about it anyway, insisting that Tim sits down on the couch while she makes him an ice pack out of ice cubes and a wash cloth.

"Here, for the swelling," Julie tells him, placing it against his eye.

"Yes ma'am, Nurse Julie," Tim says with a smirk. Julie rolls her eyes and bends down to kiss him on the mouth.

"My parents will probably be home soon. What are you going to tell them?"

Tim doesn't get a chance to answer, as he is interrupted by a crashing noise outside. With the ice pack Julie made him still obediently held to his eye, Tim peaks out the front window. He's met with the sight of Billy dumping things on the Taylors' lawn.

His mattress and bedframe.

Football trophies dating back to when Tim was six.

A dresser.

Under different circumstances, Tim would be amazed that Billy managed to get all of that to fit in the bed of his truck.

Currently, it brings a flare of hot anger rising in his chest. Just as soon as the fire ignites, it is put out when Julie wraps her arms around his waist and lays her head on his back.

"Don't go back out there. Just let him do it. We'll clean it up when he leaves."

Tim stands and watches his brother the whole time. As soon as Billy is gone five minutes later, Tim and Julie head back outside. This time Tim insists Julie sit on the porch with Gracie, near the door.

"He was pretty drunk," Tim explains. "I dunno if he'll try to come back."

Working on the adrenaline of his anger, Tim cleans out the rest of the garage and moves the furniture inside before Tami and Eric arrive home thirty minutes later.

"Tim, honey, what happened to your eye?!" Tami exclaims as soon as she catches sight of it. She takes Tim's face between her hands, forcing him to look at her so she can see it clearly.

Tim puts on a sheepish grin. "You been in your garage lately? Coach isn't the best at stackin' things."

For whatever reason, Tim can't bring himself to say that it was Billy that caused the black eye. Lucky for him, neither Tami nor Eric question Julie about Tim's story. Which is good, considering Tim can feel Julie's eyes boring into the side of his face.

Julie leaves it alone, though. Until Monday morning, that is. On Monday morning, during their ride to school, Julie asks why Tim lied.

Tim squeezes her hand in his almost too hard.

"As much of an asshole as he can be, he's still my brother."

And though Julie doesn't quite understand why that justifies getting punched in the face, Tim leaves it at that.


	7. Two-Steppin'

**_Two-Steppin'_**

* * *

"Tim Riggins, this is Texas. Sweet tea, country twang, bless your heart Texas, and you're telling me you can't _two-step_?" Julie asks Tim incredulously.

It is June. The last day of school was last week, thankfully, considering the air conditioners went out in mid-May. Already, both Julie and Tim are tanned from the summer sun. Julie soaks up rays at the pool, while Tim is doing farm work for an older farmer with a bum knee.

They are out near the sunflower field, sitting in the shade provided by Tim's truck. It is more private than the Taylor household _and_ it's away from the eyes of Dillon. After their day of playing hooky in the field, it only seemed right for it to become their special spot.

As Julie spoke, Tim was in the middle of admiring Julie's pale blue sundress, so it takes him a moment to answer.

"I don't dance, Jules," Tim says with a lopsided smile, his eyes reluctantly moving up to Julie's face.

"Even _I_ know how to two-step."

"Oh, you want a medal or something?"

Rolling her eyes, Julie stands up and goes to Tim's truck. Tim left the keys in the ignition, so Julie gives them a twist and starts playing with the radio dial until she picks up a country station. She rolls the windows down so that he music comes streaming out of the truck's cab.

As _Strawberry Wine_ begins to play, Julie walks over to Tim and holds her hand out. She positions one of his hands on her waist and takes the other in hers.

"O-okay," Julie says, surprised when Tim slips his hand from her waist to her lower back and pulls her closer to him. She feels herself blush, but ignores it. "Just follow me."

"Aren't I supposed to lead?" Tim asks.

"You don't even know the dance! It's just two steps one way, and then one step back. Super easy."

Like Julie said, it's an easy dance, and it doesn't take long for Tim to get the hang of it. _Strawberry Wine_ turns into _Neon Moon_ as they keep dancing. Tim gets brave as he gets comfortable with it and follows Julie's instructions on how to spin her.

This sends the skirt of her sundress swirling around her legs, which is certainly nothing to complain about, in Tim's opinion.

Smiling recklessly, Tim spins Julie until she is laughing and dizzy enough that she has to lean against him rather than fall down.

"I don't think we'll be going pro anytime soon," Julie says, her arms around Tim's waist and her head resting on his chest as things slowly stop spinning all around her.

"Really? Here I was, thinkin' we did pretty good."

"Sure, until you decided to make me dizzy!"

Tim catches Julie's mouth with his, cutting her laughs short. He spins her one more time, so that her back is against the truck. When he presses against her, Julie becomes dizzy again, though this time for an entirely different reason.

 _She is not Tyra. Or Lyla. Or a rally girl_. These thoughts fly through Tim's mind when his wayward hand drifts up under the hem of her dress. Even though he very much does not want to, Tim makes himself stop and pull away from her just enough that there is some space between their bodies.

Julie's hands are still tangled in his hair as he tips his forehead against hers. As Julie's eyes open, Tim sees they have become a darker, hazier shade of brown as a lazy, wistful smile spreads across her face.

Tim smiles back at her and lowers his mouth to hers once more, this time for a more demure kiss.

But he is very aware of his blood rushing through his veins and his all-consuming _want_ of Julie Taylor. _Not here_ , he tells himself. _Not like this. It has to be more special, for her._


	8. Fourth of July

**_Fourth of July_**

* * *

Gracie Bell hates fireworks. They make her scream her head off, so that Tami has had to play soothing classical music in her bedroom for days before the actual holiday.

Julie, on the other hand, has always _loved_ fireworks. Even when she was little, too little to light them herself, she loved to sit in her mother's lap and watch her father create firework displays for her.

"I'm sorry, Julie," Tami says on the night of the third, bouncing a wailing Gracie in her arms as the pop of fireworks sounds outside. "If you want to light them this year, you'll have to find somewhere else to do it. Look at poor Gracie, and this is with them going off down the street. Can you imagine if they were closer?"

Julie pauses her movie and is about to complain when Tim, who is washing the dishes from supper, cuts in. "I could take Julie out to the ranch, Mrs. Coach."

'The ranch' is how Tim refers to Old Man O'Dooley's farm, where he works. His boss is a kindly, old Irish farmer.

"The O'Dooleys wouldn't mind that?" Tami asks, trying to coax a bottle of warm milk into Gracie Bell's mouth.

"Nah, they said you can see the town fireworks real good out on the farm, too."

"Tim, honey, that would be great. I would hate for Julie to miss them. She's loved them since she was tiny."

Usually, Julie would be opposing the fact that they are talking about her like she isn't in the room—something her parents do constantly, and something that she can't stand. But she is too impressed with Tim, who is really much more charming than he would ever give himself credit for.

Julie never thought she'd see the day that her mom would _thank_ Tim Riggins for offering to take Julie somewhere they would be unsupervised.

"Really, Mom? You wouldn't mind?" Julie asks before she can stop herself. Tim shoots her a look.

"Of course not, honey." Tami gives Julie a smile that makes Julie narrow her eyes.

 _Does she know?_ Julie thinks to herself, watching as Tami takes Gracie Bell back into the nursery.

Over the back of the couch, Julie peeks at Tim. His tanned arms are covered in bubbles from washing dishes, but his face wears a smug smirk. Julie rolls her eyes at him and goes back to her movie, but inside, the excitement for tomorrow night builds inside of her.

The next day, when Julie and Tim are finished at their jobs, Tim takes Julie to the fireworks stands around town.

"I feel like it was too easy," Julie grumbles, debating over the Roman candles she has in one hand and the sparklers she has in the other. She moves her hands as if weighing the two, and then places the Roman candles in the brown paper bag Tim is holding for her.

"Lighten up, Jules. If they thought anything was going on, I'm sure Coach would have killed me by now."

"Maybe he's just lying in wait," Julie counters as Tim reaches over her to grab some smoke bombs.

"Maybe Gracie Bell would like these," he says, ignoring Julie. "No noise, you can light 'em in the daytime, pretty colors."

Julie snorts. "You can try. Nothing makes her happy lately."

Tim tosses them in the bag with the rest of their fireworks. He pays, refusing to let Julie use any of her money despite her protests. Tim even takes hold of her hand, something neither has ever dared to do in public, just to keep Julie from handing some bills over to the woman working the stand.

And he does not let go, a twenty dollar bill caught between their palms, until he has his change in his other hand.

Unbeknownst to either Julie or Tim, who thought they were alone at this stand, Tyra and Landry had just started walking up. Both Tyra and Landry saw the way Tim took Julie's hand, slipping his fingers between hers, to stop her from paying for the fireworks.

Actually, if they hadn't had their back completely turned to the new pair approaching, they would have seen Landry smack Tyra's arm in shock and point to them. They stopped walking, instead watching as Tim let go of Julie's hand, taking the money with him.

Tim takes the twenty and slips it back into the front pocket of Julie's jean shorts as Julie feigns annoyance. Both Tyra and Landry can see the smile fighting to take over her lips as Tim winks at her.

"Holy shit, Matt was right," Landry whispers as Tim and Julie fully turn and finally see the two. Tyra grabs Landry's arm, forcing him to walk forward even though he's still stunned.

"Hi, Tim! Hi, Julie!" Tyra says brightly. Julie's face and neck flushes a deep red that has nothing to do with the Texas summer sun.

"Hey, Tyra," Tim says sheepishly. Julie, for her part, is too nervous to say a word.

"Y'all enjoy those fireworks," Tyra says, leading Landry forward.

"You too." When Tim takes a step forward, Julie doesn't follow. Tim puts a hand on her back, trying to lead her.

"C'mon, Jules," he whispers. Once she starts walking, Tim starts talking again. "Even if they saw, who cares? Tyra won't go off tellin' everybody, and she won't let Landry, either."

"How do you know that?" Julie asks sharply.

"Look, Jules, I know Tyra, okay? We might not've always been nice to each other, but she's not mean just to be mean."

"Are you sure?" Julie's tone softens as Tim opens the truck door for her. The anger on her face fades to worry.

Tim smiles. "Positive. Now, if _Lyla_ saw us that would be a different story. She doesn't always come off that way, but Tyra's good people."

They go back home—it's still thrilling to Julie to think that she and her boyfriend live in the same house—and take Gracie Bell outside. While she and Julie sit in the grass, Gracie in her lap, Tim lights the smoke bombs they bought in the street.

Tami and Eric sit in lawn chairs closer to the house, prepared to scoop Gracie Bell up should Tim's idea backfire.

To everyone's surprise, when Tim lights the first smoke bomb, Gracie abandon's her game of twisting Julie's long blonde hair in her fingers and fixates on Tim. She watches the green smoke rise and curl around him as he waits for it to extinguish so he can light another. When all the smoke disappears, she begins to laugh and clap, bouncing herself in Julie's lap.

"Well, I'll be damned, Riggins," Eric says, taking a bite out of his beef jerky.

Following the cues of Gracie's claps and exclamations, Tim lights smoke bomb after smoke bomb. Sometimes he lights two or three at once, so the colors will mix as the smoke rises.

Julie watches Tim just as intently as her sister does, though for different reasons. Watching the boyish smiles bloom across his face as he performs for Gracie, Julie feels her heart swell with affection. She can't help but to join in on Gracie's applause for Tim.

Tim makes sure to wrap up the show before the sun sets, because as soon as it slips behind the horizon he knows neighborhood kids will start lighting fireworks of the loud variety. As Julie stands and settles Gracie on her hip, she reaches out to Tim, who has walked up behind them. He takes Gracie into his arms and she grabs his cheeks in her tiny hands and pats them.

This is something Gracie often does to express her affection. She does it to both of her parents and her older sister, but despite all the times Tim has played with her and fed her, this is the first time she's done it to him. Tim is completely surprised by the lump that forms in his throat, though he returns Gracie's smile.

* * *

"Are you _positive_ Tyra won't say anything?" Julie asks. She is sitting on the bed of Tim's truck, her knees pulled up to her chest, watching as Tim sets out the fireworks they bought earlier.

"Yes, I am positive," Tim insists, coming to the truck bed to give Julie a kiss.

"What were you doing over there, anyway?" Tim wouldn't let Julie help with the setup of the fireworks.

"Putting them close together so that they'll light one after the other. Y'know, like dominoes."

"You're going to light this whole farm on fire," Julie says with a laugh.

"Nah, I won't," Tim says as he walks back to the fireworks. "I plowed this field myself, there's nothin' left in it that can spark."

Tim lights the first fuse in his firework display and jogs back to the truck. He hops up on the truck bed, slinging his arm around Julie's shoulder and pulling her into him.

"Watch the magic, Jules."

Just as Tim intended, the fireworks light each other's fuses.

"Oh, you really made it work," Julie says, eyes fixed on the fireworks as she feels Tim press a kiss onto the side of her head.

"I wanted to make sure we were done with ours before the town fireworks start."

The fireworks continue their fountains of colorful sparks for around five minutes. Julie hadn't even realized that they had bought so many fireworks.

To Julie, the continuous sparks were beautiful. To Tim, _Julie_ was the beautiful one, with the fireworks lighting up her face and reflecting in her eyes.

By the time the fireworks are done, Julie is kissing Tim's cheeks and nose and lips.

"I guess that made you happy, huh?" Tim teases, sliding off the truck bed and taking Julie with him. "Come help me with something, Jules."

Somehow, Julie hadn't noticed the blankets Tim had put underneath the seats of his truck. Together, they pile them into the truck bed and lay down just in time for Dillon's firework display.

Tim was right, out on the farm away from town lights, the fireworks are amazingly bright in the sky. Just like the night of the meteor shower, Julie slips her hand into Tim's as they lay on their backs and watch the sky erupt into bright colors.

"I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me," Julie says in a whisper once the last of the sparks have faded away.


	9. Honeysuckle

**_Honeysuckle_**

* * *

Tami Taylor _loves_ honeysuckle. It is her favorite scent, and one of the first things she did when the Taylor family moved to Dillon was plant three honeysuckle plants.

One promptly died, unable to withstand the Texas heat. The other two struggled along, despite careful pruning, watering, and fertilizing from Tami.

Finally, despite the Texas summer sun, they are thriving. The plants have managed to climb all the way up the trellis Eric built for Tami. Their scent perfumes the Taylors' entire yard, turning the usually stale summer air sweet.

Tim, raised around plaid, football, beer, and all things quintessentially _manly_ , has no experience with the sweet smelling blooms. Honestly, the smell kind of gives him a headache sometimes.

But does that stop Tim from following Julie into the yard, straight to the honeysuckles growing on their trellis?

Of course not. Because if it involves Julie, Tim will pretty much always agree.

"Do you know why they're called honeysuckles?" Julie asks. She has just returned from work. Her hair is damp and her skin smells like chlorine and sunscreen. Julie hasn't changed out of her work clothes, either, which consist of a flimsy white cover up over her life guard's swimsuit. It is Sunday, and Tim doesn't work on Sundays because his boss is a big believer in the Sabbath.

"I dunno," Tim answers honestly. "They don't even smell like honey."

This makes Julie laugh. Where they are standing in the yard, they are blocked from the view of all the windows, so she takes Tim's face in her hands and gives him a kiss.

"I will show you why they are called honeysuckles," she says.

Julie plucks one of the blooms off the vine. Then, carefully, she pulls on the stem.

"See that?" Julie asks, referring to the little bead of nectar that has formed on the stem. Tim nods.

Julie lifts it to Tim's mouth. Tim moves his face away.

"What're you doin'?" he asks.

"Trust me, just taste it." Julie moves the flower to Tim's lips again and this time he allows her to place the stem on his tongue.

Tim is surprised that the nectar tastes exactly like honey, sweet and syrupy.

" _That_ is why it's called a honeysuckle," Julie says, bringing her face to Tim's again for another kiss. Julie can still taste the sweet nectar on Tim's mouth.


	10. Tyra

**_Tyra_**

* * *

Julie is stubborn. It is something that Tim both admires and occasionally finds infuriating.

Her stubbornness was what led Tim to talk to Tyra—Julie wanted to know for absolute sure that their secret wouldn't be revealed—for the first time in a long time.

Upon Tim's request, Tyra meets him out on O'Dooley's farm during his lunch break. He offers Tyra half of the turkey sandwich Mrs. Coach had made for him.

They sit on the tailgate of Tim's truck, eating their halves of the sandwich. Tim figures there's no other way to do it than to just bite the bullet.

"Y'know when you saw me and Jules, I mean Julie, at the firework stand a few weeks ago?" Tim asks, looking down at the sandwich in his hands. He hadn't imagined how nervous he would be, to say it out loud.

He's thought it many times, _Julie Taylor is my girlfriend._ But _saying_ it is proving to be something different all together.

"You mean when I saw you and Julie holding hands at the fireworks stand?" Tyra says with a smirk and a mischievous look in her eyes. She uses her shoulder to bump Tim's and laughs.

"I've never seen you blush. Who would have though sweet little Julie Taylor would make Tim Riggins blush?" Tyra keep laughing while Tim tries to wave her off with his hand.

Once Tyra is done laughing, she turns more serious.

"She's better than Lila, I'll give her that. Girl's got a personality, and a mind of her own."

"Jules is something else," Tim admits, smiling despite himself.

For some reason, Tyra's words of approval make Tim happy. He realizes it is because, even after it all, he considers Tyra a true friend. She is in the same league as Jason, hands down.

Tyra laughs and reaches her hand out, messing up Tim's hair like he is her kid brother or something.

"You're like a fox in the chicken coop, stealing right under the nose of the farmer. It's ballsy, Tim, I'll give you that. Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell. And I already threatened Landry. He's not gonna say anything either, not even to Matt. But, um, you should probably tell her parents before it all blows up in your face."

"Yeah, yeah," Tim says, though he doesn't want to reveal the secret just yet. He likes the privacy of having Julie to himself, without anyone else knowing.


	11. Nap

**_Nap_**

* * *

One might think, due to Tim's previous track record with girls, that an afternoon with the house to themselves would be a prime time to make a move on Julie. This is actually not the case, on a muggy Saturday in August.

Eric and Tami have decided to take Gracie to get professional photographs taken, and the photographer they chose is a few towns over from Dillon, leaving Julie and Tim home alone. They were left early in the morning, with twenty dollars on the table to get themselves some dinner.

"What are you doing home?" Julie asks around noon, walking in the house to see Tim stretched out on the couch watching Dr. Phil.

"This damn lightning caught fire on a field a few farms over, so I got the rest of the day off." Tim pushes himself into a sitting position, lifting his face up toward Julie. She leans down to bring her lips to his, and Tim winds a hand in her chlorine-damp hair.

"The lightning closed the pool, too," Julie tells him once she breaks away. "I'm gonna go take a shower. I feel really gross after sitting all sweaty in this humidity all morning."

It has been lightning all day, bruised clouds blocking the sun from view. But despite how heavy the clouds look, they do not release their rain.

"Alright, I'll just spend more quality time with Dr. Phil here," Tim calls after Julie. The thought of Julie in the shower makes the blood in Tim's veins run faster. He tries to ignore those thoughts, and they way his body reacts to them, by turning his attention back to Dr. Phil.

It doesn't help much.

After the shower stops run in, Tim hears the blow dryer kick on. He knows it will be going for quite a while. Tim has spent many mornings with Coach, listening to the older man grumble about how long it takes for both his wife and daughter to dry their thick blonde hair.

Tim makes it through another whole episode of Dr. Phil before Julie emerges from the bathroom. She's wearing a Dillon football t-shirt and cotton shorts printed with daisies-her pajamas.

"Do you want to take a nap with me? I'm exhausted."

Julie does look tired, wilted under the oppressive heat of the day. Even with the strong air conditioning inside providing escape from the heat, it looks like the summer has bested her today.

It wasn't what Tim had initially thought about, but he had to admit it was a good alternative. He isn't usually one for much cuddling, but he's grown to like it since Julie came into his life. She is a big cuddler.

"Yeah, let's take a nap," Tim says, turning off the TV and taking Julie's outstretched hand. He allows her to pull him up off the couch. As she leads him down the hall to her bedroom, she slides her fingers between his.

Tim has never actually been in Julie's room. The bright colors, the tiny flowers dotting her sheets, the filmy curtains all scream Julie to him.

"I'll set an alarm so we don't oversleep," Julie grumbles, picking up her alarm clock. Tim knows she must really be very tired, because Julie isn't the least bit nervous like she usually is when they are alone.

Tim smiles, watching Julie decide on a time for the alarm. Already her eyelids are sliding closed. While Julie works on setting the alarm, Tim slips his jeans and socks off. Neither would be comfortable to sleep in, but he leaves his white t-shirt on.

Once Julie is satisfied with the alarm, she lifts her covers and motions for Tim to join her. Julie snuggles herself closely to Tim, laying her head on his chest.

"I like listening to your heart," Julie says sleepily. Tim runs his fingers through her smooth blonde hair and places a kiss on the top of her head.

* * *

The thing is, though he agreed to the nap, Tim is not particularly sleepy. Or so he thought. With Tim's fingers in her hair, Julie quickly falls asleep. Her breathing becomes deep and regular.

Tim really didn't think he'd fall asleep. But with the warm weight of Julie against him and the rhythm of her breaths, he feels his own eyelids grow heavy. He wraps his arm tighter around Julie but doesn't fight it as the sleep overtakes him.

Several hours later, Tami, Eric, and Gracie Bell walk in on a scene that betrays no trace of the two teenage lovers afternoon in bed.

Julie is on one end of the couch, wrapped in a blanket. Tim lays sprawled on the other end, his legs over the arm off the couch and his head propped against Tami's couch cushions. Before them on the coffee table is an open box of pizza they've been sharing.

"I'm telling you, he's going to pick Rachel," Julie says, taking a bite of her pizza. She and Tim had to compromise on toppings, her side covered in veggies while Tim's had meat.

"Jules, if he picks her I will go to Alabama and punch him in the face myself."

The two are watching _The Bachelor_ at Julie's request. Neither notice the rest of the Taylors enter the house until Eric bursts out laughing.

"Tim Riggins. Mr. 'I like to hurt people', are you really watching _The Bachelor_ right now?"

Tim doesn't bother lifting himself off the couch, rather tipping his head backwards to look at his coach.

"This is serious business here, Coach. I have ten bucks on Stacie there and I don't aim to lose to your daughter."

"Yeah, sure," Eric says, winking over at his wife. "Just know the other guys will be hearing about this when we start preseason practice next week, Riggins."


	12. Cyclone Weather

**_A/N:_** Yes, I know, something similar to this happened in the show... But it's one of my favorite scenes between Tim and Julie, and I decided to re-purpose it for this story. Read on! Enjoy! Review if you want! :)

* * *

 ** _Cyclone Weather_**

* * *

Near the first day of school, in mid-August, the days have turned muggier than anyone in Dillon can seem to remember them ever being. The humidity has been hanging in the air for weeks now.

"If tornado season hadn't already passed, I would think that's what we're in for," Tami says, lifting her thick hair away from her neck and fanning herself with a piece of paper. She has to speak loudly to be heard over Gracie Bell's cries.

The sticky weather is making everyone miserable. Lightning storms have already caused two football practices to be cancelled, so Eric isn't too happy. Working on the farm and wearing all the heavy gear during practices wears Tim out.

Julie and her fellow lifeguards can hardly stand to sit in the chair for longer than thirty minute intervals. They switch with each other often.

Gracie Bell hasn't worn a shirt or pants for days, because the clothes just cause her to scream. She is having one of her fits where she wants Tami to hold and comfort her but at the same time, she is too hot to be held.

"Tim, honey, would you mind running to the store for me? I need a few more things for supper tonight and I doubt Gracie is going to let me go anywhere."

Eric is at the school 'reviewing tape'—Tami knows he's really trying to beat the heat by staying close to the refrigerated air Dillon High pays to pump into the locker rooms.

"Yeah, sure, Mrs. Coach," Tim calls to her. He and Julie are in the living room, watching a game show with the subtitles on since they can't hear the TV over Gracie Bell.

"Can I go too, Mom? Gracie is giving me a headache."

"Sure, honey. Here, come get my list and I'll get y'all some money, too."

Once they have both the money and the list, Tim and Julie head out to Tim's truck. Walking outside feels like walking underwater, and the sky is bruised black and an eerie green towards the horizon.

"I think your mom might be right about that tornado," Tim tells Julie, opening the passenger door of the truck for her.

"No way," Julie argues. "It's almost time for school. We never have scares this late."

Scares are usually all Dillon gets in the way of tornados. It's been many years since one actually did any damage to the town.

"I dunno, Jules. The sky don't look too good."

Just like on their drives to school last spring, Tim holds Julie's hand as they drive to the grocery store. As they drive, rain starts to come down heavily.

"Good, maybe now all this stupid humidity will leave," Julie grumbles. Tim smirks at Julie and squeezes her hand.

Once at the store, Tim parks as close to the door as possible and he again opens her door for her. Then they rush inside, both anxious to get out of the cold rain.

"You good?" Tim asks Julie once they are inside.

"Yeah," Julie says, but her attention is drawn to the windows. The rain is coming down sideways now, pelting the glass of the doors and windows. Not a second later, hail begins to fall.

"You don't think…?" Julie starts, but Tim moves passed her, going back out the door. She watches as the wind whips his hair. He is only outside for a moment before he comes rushing back in.

"Get away from the windows!" He yells, though he doesn't need to. Everyone in the store can see the funnel cloud.

Tim grabs Julie's hand, pulling her along with him. He leads her behind a wall, pushing her gently so that she will crouch down. Then he presses his chest to her back, sets his chin on top of her head, and wraps her arms around her. He is desperate to protect her, to cover her with himself.

He can feel her shaking as he holds her tight against him.

"It will be okay, Jules. It'll be okay." Tim kisses the top of her head, not caring that they are in public or who sees.

There is a terrible crash and suddenly there is glass strewn everywhere. Tim feels it fall over him but, luckily, he doesn't feel any pain. He has picked a good spot for he and Julie to hide.

Julie is terrified. The only thing keeping her together is Tim's arms wrapped so tight around her.

They stay huddled together until someone calls out "All clear! It's passed!"

It isn't until Tim stands that he realizes he is also shaking. He helps Julie to her feet. As soon as she is standing, she throws her arms around Tim and buries her face in his chest. Again he wraps her arms around her and whispers softly that everything is okay.

"Let's go home," Tim tells her. Julie nods against his chest.

Tim keeps his arm around Julie's shoulders as they make their way back outside. Random debris is strewn across the parking lot—chunks of hail, pieces of wood and metal—but, amazingly, most everything seems unscathed save for the busted out windows.

They are quiet on the drive home, Tim's thumb rubbing circles onto the back of Julie's hand. The streets are a mess with plant debris. Some cars have huge dents and missing windows from the hail.

The instant they walk into the door at the Taylor house, both Tim and Julie are swept up in hugs from her parents.

"Oh, God, we were so worried about you two! It didn't touch down completely as it went through town, but there was damage in a lot of places. Let me look at you two."

Tami inspects the two teenagers. When she sees they are both without injuries, she hugs them again.

"Oh, what happened? Were you crying?" Tami asks, cupping Julie's face. Eric strays away, going to the window to see where the storm is headed.

"I'm okay, Mom. It was just kind of scary while it was happening. But," here Julie looked away from her mother to look at the boy standing next to her, "Tim kept me safe."

Tami sees something in the way Julie looks up at Tim and Tim's sheepish smile as he looks down at the ground.

And now that she sees it here in front of her, Tami doesn't know how she didn't see it before.


	13. Mother Knows Best?

_**Mother Knows Best?**_

* * *

For some reason, which she herself was not sure of, Tami decides not to tell Eric about her suspicion. At least, not yet. She would like to talk to Julie first. She feels she owes that to her daughter. Tim may be Eric's fullback, but Julie is their daughter and Tami doesn't want her getting hurt.

It isn't that she doesn't like Tim. She does. Her opinion of him has greatly improved since he moved into the Taylor household. Tami considers Tim to be hardworking and reliable and believes a lot of Tim's downfalls had more to do with his upbringing than who he is as a person.

And now that she has noticed her daughter's interest in him, she has also realized that contrary to Tim's reputation in the halls of Dillon High School, he hasn't spent any time with girls since he's moved in.

No Tyra. No Lyla. No rally girls. This is not the behavior one would typically expect of Tim Riggins.

Yet Tami can't bring herself to approach neither Julie nor Eric about the subject.

Instead, she decides to watch the two teenagers, just to see what she can see. Maybe she is wrong. Maybe that look she saw was just due to the adrenaline of Julie being in the storm.

When both Tim and Julie have returned home and finished their chores, Tami watches how the two interact. She uses bill writing as an excuse to sit at the kitchen table, which gives her a clear view of the two in the living room.

Eric is beside her, but he is lost in his playbook, trying to prepare for the upcoming football season.

Tim and Julie have made a habit of watching Julie's favorite reality shows, with each placing bets on who they think will win. As Tim flips through the channels to find _America's Next Top Model,_ Julie walks behind the couch to Gracie Bell's bouncer. On her way, she stops to tousle Tim's long hair.

Tami watches as Tim laughs, reaching up and catching Julie by the wrist. Does he hold onto Julie's hand just a beat too long for it to be casual, or is Tami just searching for things now? She isn't sure.

Julie returns with Gracie, passing him to Tim so they can play one of Gracie's favorite games. Gracie loves for Tim to lift her high in the air and move her about like she is flying while making zooming noises.

Is the wide smile on Julie's face due to Gracie Bell's uncontrollable giggles? Or does it have more to do with Tim?

At dinner, Tami notices the ease with which Tim and Julie trade food. The two always sit side by side at the table. Julie doesn't much like cooked carrots and Tim never touches squash. Without even saying a word to each other, Julie puts all her carrot slices on Tim's plate while he transfers squash to hers by the forkful.

There was an obvious, easy friendship between Tim and Julie. It actually made Tami happy to see the two get along so well—Tim didn't have many good influences in his life and Julie didn't have many friends, period.

But this…this seems like more than a friendship, right? At least Tami _thinks_ so. Eric hasn't seemed to have noticed a thing. There had been no talk around town—you can't sneeze in Dillon without everyone and their dog knowing about it.

Tami is the counsellor of Dillon High. It is her job to notice the nuances in people. Not to mention the fact that Julie is her own child, raised by her for nearly seventeen years now. So why is she finding this situation so hard to read?


	14. Back to School Party

**_Back to School Party_**

* * *

Julie can't believe that her parents have let her come here, to a house party. This is something they would _never_ have allowed before…but a lot had changed since Tim had come to live with the Taylors.

Even at the party, surrounded by people and loud, throbbing music, Julie can hear her father's words of permission and approval in her head:

 _"_ _Really?" Julie asks, looking up from her seat on the living room floor. She is surrounded by little stacked hills she has made out of the laundry she is folding. Her eyebrows furrow together, as if she doesn't quite believe her father's easy allowance._

 _Truth is, she doesn't. If it had come from her mother, maybe, but not from her father. Even though she is nearly a junior in high school, she knows all too well how overprotective her father can be._

 _"_ _Yeah," Eric says, scribbling something in the margin of his playbook. "Really. Tim will be there."_

 _Tim is mowing the lawn outside. If he had been in the living room with Julie and Eric, there probably would have been an incredulous look between the two._

 _"_ _You trust Tim more than you trust me?" Julie can't help but to ask._

 _Eric sighs, pushing his pen behind his ear and looking over at his daughter._

 _"_ _I'll always trust you, Julie. You're smart. But other boys are dumb, and they like to try to get smart girls to do dumb things with them. It's not that I don't trust you, I trust Tim more than I trust other boys."_

Julie didn't let it show, but inside she felt a swell of pride that her father approves of Tim. They are still hiding the things between them, but the fact that her father trusts Tim when he never seemed to fully trust Matt makes her happy.

The aftermath of that happy feeling makes Julie smile as her eyes scan the living room of this unfamiliar house until she finds Tim. He is across the room—on purpose, so as not to draw attention—talking to some of his teammates. Matt is noticeably not with the other Dillon Panther stars.

Feeling Julie's gaze, Tim meets her eye and winks quickly. With an even wider smile, Julie accepts the shot offered to her by one of her dance teammates.

"This one's good, not like the last one," Tanya promises Julie. She has already had three. Aside from a sip of beer Julie snuck from an open bottle her father left on the table, Julie has never had alcohol.

It hasn't entirely hit her yet, all the alcohol she has consumed so far. Julie lifts the fourth to her lips and throws her head back.

This one is much stronger than the first three—those had been sickly sweet and hadn't tasted anything like alcohol. But this burns down Julie's throat and settles warmly in her stomach.

"That one was _strong_ ," Julie tells Tanya, her face scrunched up. Tanya giggles.

"It better be, I didn't use any mixers!"

After the burn comes a hazy tingliness that Julie likes, so when Tanya hands her a fifth and sixth shot, Julie doesn't turn them down.

Then the haze is thicker, and it isn't so much tingles as an odd sense of unbalance that Julie is feeling.

"Let's go outside," Tanya says. Or at least, Julie _thinks_ that is what she says. Tanya's words run thick together and Julie feels like her ears have been stuffed with cotton, so that even the loud music is muffled. "I'm hot."

Julie grabs on to Tanya's hand, not trusting herself to walk alone. Her feet feel heavy and her legs suddenly unmanageable and clumsy. On top of this, the floor doesn't feel solid under her feet. Julie isn't sure she will survive the walk to get outside.

People go by in a blur of color as Julie lets Tanya drag her outside. And then suddenly, the cool early September night air is all around Julie and it is much quieter. She is outside.

"Oh," Tanya says, letting go of Julie's hand. "I think I'm going to puke."

Tanya runs towards some bushes, leaving Julie alone. Now that she doesn't have a tether, Julie isn't sure she trusts herself to walk.

She wishes she knew where Tim is.

Julie decides she should look for him. She turns back towards the direction she thinks the door is in and takes some wobbling steps. She's worked out that she is in the backyard. That's better than the front, she thinks, because no one can see that she can't quite walk in a backyard.

In her drunken state, though, Julie doesn't realize she is concentrating so much on how to make her feet carry her forward that she stumbles right into none other than Matt Saracen.

"Oh," she says, pushing herself away from him. When she crashed into him, Matt's hands came to rest on her waist and steady her. "Sorry. Have you seen Tim? I'm looking for Tim."

Julie's not sure Matt understood her. His face scrunches up.

"Tim?" Matt asks. He sounds confused, and kind of angry. Julie's not sure why, but she feels like crying because Matt won't help her find him.

"Yes!" She almost whines. "I want Tim. Where is he?"

Matt opens his mouth like he's going to say something else, but Julie pushes away from him. There is a burning in her throat not unlike when she took all of those shots, but this time it is coming _up._ Julie just misses her own shoes.

"W-why would you want Tim?" Matt asks, but Julie can't answer. She's still getting sick, and feels faintly bad for puking on the roses near her feet.

Julie wipes her mouth and straightens back up to look at Matt. Her head is pounding and she doesn't want to talk to Matt about why she would want Tim right now.

"Julie, I don't think you and Tim are just friends, like you told me. Remember when you told me that, at the end of last school year? When he first went to live with you and your folks? I think you were lying, and I don't think it's a good idea to be more than friends with Tim."

Now Julie is crying, because her head hurts and she still feels sick and she doesn't want to hear a lecture from Matt and she just really, _really_ wants Tim.

"What's going on out here?" Tim says, stepping out the back door. He takes a look at the tears running down Julie's cheeks and rushes to her.

"Jules, are you crying?" He asks, trying to keep his voice calm even though he is fuming inside.

"I'm okay," Julie tells him, reaching out to take hold of his arm, partly to steady herself and partly to keep him from going towards Matt. "I just really want to go home. I don't feel good."

Tim looks between Julie, who is looking up at him with tired, red-rimmed eyes, and Matt, who has chosen to stare at the ground.

"Did you say something to her, man?" Tim asks Matt. Without looking up from the ground, Matt shakes his head.

"No, man, she's just really drunk. She threw up right before you came out here." Tim stares at Matt, not really believing him, but Julie is tugging lightly on his arm. He decides, for now, to let it go.

"Are you okay, or do you think you're gonna hurl again?" Tim asks, turning his back on Matt to face Julie.

"I think I'm okay right now," Julie tells him. Her teeth have started to chatter, so it's even harder to understand her already sloppy words.

"You cold?" Tim shrugs out of his jacket and helps Julie put it on. Her parents had told her to bring one earlier, but she'd stubbornly argued she didn't want to lose it.

Without another word to Matt, Tim wraps his arm around Julie's waist to help her walk. He guides her around the house and through the back gate.

"Your parents are going to be really mad," Tim points out. Both had been strictly told not to drink, and for once, Tim hadn't had a drop.

"What time is it?" Julie asks, her head resting against him as they walked.

"It's only eleven."

"Our curfew isn't until 12:30. How do you sober up?"

"I've never wanted to be sobered up when I've been drinking," Tim admits.

"Well, there's got to be something, right?"

Tim lifts her into the passenger seat of his truck once they reach it. When her hands fumble over the seat belt, he has to help her with that, too.

"You already threw some of it up. I hear coffee and food helps."

"Then let's get coffee and food!" Julie seems to brighten at the idea and Tim shakes his head, a smirk on his lips.

Tim drives Julie to a gas station, one of the only things still open in Dillon. He gets her coffee and donuts to eat in the truck, but Julie is small and he can tell she's had a lot to drink, so it doesn't really help much other than making her happy.

The food seems to make her sleepy. Julie rests her head against her seat and closes her eyes.

"Let's get you to bed," Tim says, ignoring her when she starts to mumble that she doesn't want her bed, she wants him.

Once at home, Tim again comes to the passenger side of the truck.

"I'm going to take your shoes off," he tells her. "You just had to wear these damn heels."

"Why are you taking my shoes off?" Julies asks as Tim tosses them in the floorboard. "I like my shoes."

"Because they'll make noise and you can barely walk as is. Jules, no, you can get them in the morning," he tells her, catching her wrist when she tries to reach for them.

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. Now c'mon, let's get you inside." Julie lets Tim lead her inside to her bedroom. Tim is thankful that Julie is too tired, and honestly still too drunk, to do anything other than want to sleep. It makes it easier for him to get her inside quietly.

He helps her lay on her bed, pulling her comforter up around her even though he leaves her fully dressed. Her hair, which she had spent two hours on curling before the party, fans out around her head.

Just to be safe, Tim takes her hand and makes her roll to her side. He also pulls her trashcan close to the bed and gets her a glass of water from the kitchen. Tim checks over Julie one more time before turning to leave her for the night.

As he turns to go, Julie reaches out and grabs his hand.

"Thank you," she murmurs, her voice muffled by drink and sleep. Tim smiles, turning back for a moment to brush some hair from her cheek and kiss her on the forehead.

Tim makes his way to his garage bedroom, careful not to wake any of the Taylors and extremely thankful neither Tami nor Eric decided to wait up for them.

* * *

The next morning, Tim smirks at Julie across the breakfast table as she tries to hide her hangover from her parents. He is fairly certain she isn't actually fooling them, and that is why Eric 'accidentally' dropped the frying pan and Tami is letting Gracie Bell watch her Baby Einstein DVDs on a much louder volume than usual.

Julie rolls her slightly bloodshot eyes and shovels pancakes into her mouth. Tim's not sure if Julie was ever sick again the night before, but she did make a point to return his jacket and retrieve her shoes from his truck before her parents could discover any evidence.

"See, honey," Eric says, nearly shouting to be heard over Gracie's movie and her giggles. "I told you everything would be fine if Julie went with Tim."

Tim takes a big swig of orange juice to stifle his laugh while Julie glares at her father.


	15. Little Green Monster

_Little Green Monster_

* * *

Football season in Dillon meant rally girls. Even before she dated Matt Saracen, Julie had thought that the tradition of rally girls was archaic and stupid. Since she had started dating Tim in the spring, she hadn't had to deal with rally girls until the new school year started.

Tim's locker was not terribly far from Julie's, so she had a decent view of the three girls vying for his attention. Julie knew they were asking if he had any homework they could do for him, what kind of baked goods he liked, did he want anything special to be put in his locker on game day?

The first game of the season was coming up, so the attention from the rally girls was tenfold that week.

Julie knew she couldn't do anything about it—not if she wanted to continue to keep what she had with Tim under wraps. But standing at her locker, seeing the girls around Tim, a mean and ugly feeling started coursing through her veins. She wouldn't ever like to admit it, but she was _jealous_.

Over the tops of the girls' heads, Tim looked across the hallway to look right at Julie. One of his trademark smirks stretched across his face at the sour look on Julie's own. In the noisy hallway, Julie had no idea what Tim said to the girls. She watched his mouth move, but his slow, drawling way of speaking made it impossible for Julie to guess what he said.

Julie watched as Tim shrugged and shook his head, giving the rally girls an apologetic looking smile when they seemed upset.

The bell rang, startling Julie as she was engrossed in watching Tim. She grabbed her books from her locker, hoping she got the right ones since she hadn't been looking. With one more backwards glance at Tim, who was watching her walk down the hallway with an amused look on his face, Julie made her way to her history class.

* * *

During her next stop at her locker, Julie found a note written in Tim's familiar scrawl:

 _Hey, Jules. You know where the old gym is? The one that used to have a swimming pool? I'll see you there after school._

She knew his handwriting well from all the times they had done homework together. He wrote in a way that was partly cursive, partly print, and all slanted heavily to the right. Julie always thought Tim's handwriting had a kind of energy in it, because you could see from the loose form of the letters how he always rushed to get them on the page.

Julie did know exactly the gym he was talking about. It had stood on the Dillon High School campus for more than a decade, with promises of remodeling or demolition, neither of which ever came. Nobody ever used it, so it wasn't a place the student body typically frequented.

So after school, that is where Julie found herself. Of course, Julie made sure to choose the side of the building that was a little more hidden from view than all of the others. She was sitting on the grass, using her backpack as a footrest and her dance bag as a pillow behind her back. Since she had no idea when football practice would end, she decided to get a head start on her reading for English class.

Julie got thirty-five pages into the book of short stories they were instructed to read from before something heavy and slightly damp feeling fell into her lap.

"You never pay attention when you're reading," Tim smiled up at her. He had plopped himself down so that his head landed in her lap. Julie hadn't even noticed him until then.

"You're not supposed to pay attention to other things when you're reading," Julie told him. She didn't take her eyes off of the book, because she was mid-paragraph and hated to stop in the middle, but her hand did stray to Tim's hair. "Is your hair sweaty or just wet?"

"Wet. I promise I showered after practice."

Tim waited for Julie to finish reading, enjoying the feeling of her hand working its way through his hair. When Julie finished her paragraph, she plucked a dandelion from the grass and used the stem as a bookmark before setting her book away.

"So what's the purpose of this secret meeting?" She asked, pushing Tim's head away once she realized his hair was leaving a wet spot on her skirt. Tim laughed and sat up beside her.

"I dunno. I just wanted to hang out with you before we go home." With the school year picking back up, the two had significantly less chances to spend alone time together.

"What, you still want boring little Julie Taylor after all the rally girl attention today?" Julie couldn't stop herself from saying. She had fumed all day at the thought of those girls batting their eyelashes at Tim.

A big smirk spread across Tim's face. "I thought you looked a little jealous in the hallway."

"I am _not_ jealous!" Julie pulled up a handful of grass and tossed it in Tim's face for emphasis. Pieces of it caught in his wet hair.

"Then I reckon I should tell them I changed my mind about not wanting to mess with rally girls this year, huh?" Tim asked, wiping stray blades of grass from his shirt and pulling it from his hair.

"You told them that?" Julie was surprised. Even when Tim had been with Tyra and Lyla, he had still had a gaggle of rally girls ready to do his bidding.

"Yeah, I told 'em I didn't have time for that junk this year, what with being a senior and all."

Tim barely got the words out of his mouth before Julie had her arms around his neck, kissing him. Smiling into the kiss, Tim wrapped an arm around Julie's waist and pulled her body closer to his.

"I like this skirt, by the way," Tim told Julie once she had pulled away from him, sliding his hand up her thigh under the fabric of her skirt. Julie batted his hand away, but there was a smile on her lips and blush in her cheeks.

"See, I'd rather have little Julie Taylor over any rally girl, any day of the week," Tim told her, pulling Julie down into the grass with him so he could kiss her over and over and over again.


	16. 33

**_33_**

* * *

The first Dillon football game of Tim's senior year was markedly different than any other that Tami had ever seen, and most of the differences were due solely to Julie.

First, Julie wore a Panthers t-shirt the game of the day. For anyone in Dillon _not_ named Julie Taylor, this would not have been noteworthy. Julie, however, had always refused to wear the Panthers' colors of blue, gold, and white on game day. In fact, she had been known to purposely wear the opposing team's colors just to get under her father's skin.

"Good morning," Julie had said the morning of the first game, donning a blue Panthers t-shirt and a gold ribbon tied around her ponytail.

Eric mumbled a greeting to his daughter without looking up from the playbook he was studying. Tim glanced up from his chocolate chip pancakes to smirk at Julie's attire. Gracie Bell was blissfully unaware as her older sister cut a pancake up for her.

Tami, however, studied her daughter's outfit with a measured look.

"You look…spirited, honey," Tami said, pouring orange juice into her husband's glass. Eric had just absentmindedly tried to take a drink from an empty glass, which Tami would have teased him for if she hadn't been distracted by Julie.

"Well, you _do_ insist on spending money on these t-shirts even though I never wear them. I figured that should change," Julie said with a nonchalant shrug.

Tim was still smirking as he lifted forkfuls of pancake to his mouth. He was donning his jersey for game day, tucked carefully into his jeans as all players were instructed to wear on game day.

Tami pursed her lips, shot Eric a look—he was still so absorbed in his game book that he didn't seem to hear a word of their conversation—and shook her head while Julie poured syrup and powdered sugar on her pancakes.

Her lips were still pursed twenty minutes later, when the two teenagers left for school in their matching colors.

* * *

As she was stuck in her office, providing advice and resources to a Dillon senior who wanted to be the first member of her family to attend college, Tami didn't go to the Panther pep rally that Friday.

If she had been able to attend, she might have noticed Julie sitting with her friend Lois, which wasn't unusual in the least bit for Julie. If she had been able to attend, she definitely would have noticed the honoring of the senior players, which took place at the beginning of the first pep rally every year.

No one needed to be told that the boy who wore thirty-three as his football number would be one of the players honored. Tim was a senior, by some grace of God, of course.

If Tami had been there, she might have noticed how Tim and Julie's eyes met when Tim stepped forward as his name was called. She might have noticed Julie's bright smile, and the way Tim returned it with a sheepish one of his own.

She might have noticed that Tim was the only player Julie truly clapped for.

She might have noticed the subtle wink that Tim gave to Julie.

She might have noticed when Julie became emboldened and quickly blew a kiss to Tim.

She might have noticed the true smile that spread across Tim's face.

But Tami definitely wasn't at the pep rally, so she didn't see any of these things. Eric didn't see them either, but he was paying more attention to the notecards with each senior's information on them than he was the crowd.

Tyra noted the exchange, but as she was already in on the whole thing, her reaction didn't go beyond thinkin it was cute.

Lyla noticed, and despite her newfound Christianity, the only thought in her mind was a resounding _what the hell?_

Matt _definitely_ noticed, and while Julie and Tim wore smiles on their faces, a scowl came to rest on his.

* * *

The first game of the season was a nail biter for the Dillon Panthers and their fans. Matt fumbled more balls than he successfully got to his teammates. He blatantly refused to give the ball to Tim, even when he was the only player open.

Smash did his best, either running the ball himself or getting it to Tim or another player to get it down field and score the Panthers a touchdown. Somehow, the other boys managed to keep the score neck and neck with the opposing team, despite the way Matt was playing.

"I don't know what's gotten into that boy," Tami had remarked as Matt fumbled another ball. She was sitting in the stands with Julie and Gracie, the latter of which had been tossing popcorn all around their feet for the better half of the game. Tami and Julie were both too fixated to realize the mess Gracie Bell was making.

Julie hadn't responded. She was busy watching Tim try to run the ball down the field. When he was slammed flat on his back by a member of the opposing team, Julie actually winced.

Each fumble was punctuated by groans from the Panthers side of the stadium. Each touchdown was met with excited yells and eruptions of applause.

But when the final seconds of the game were reflected on the scoreboard, the whole crowd fell into an almost unearthly hush. The Panthers were down, but not by a huge amount—they could still win, _if_ an amazing play happened.

Matt threw the ball. Smash caught it, narrowly avoiding a tackle and running it towards the end of the field. The other team's players were thick on him, but luckily Tim was keeping pace with Smash.

The ball went to Tim's hands right before Smash was taken down. Shouldering his way through the other team, Tim made it to the end zone just as the scoreboard's buzzard sounded.

Now, by this point, the Panthers fans were nearly following over, they were all leaned so far forward with their eyes glued to the field. Everyone—fans, players, coaches—waited anxiously to see if how the ref would call the play.

The seconds before the call felt endless, but when the ref blew his whistle and his arms went up, the Dillon side of the stadium went wild. Down of the field, Tim threw the football down at the grass covering the end zone and yelled victoriously. Smash rushed to him and took him down with a much friendlier tackle than anyone had received that night.

"I'm gonna to go down to the field," Julie told her mother, her eyes bright. She turned her back and rushed down the rows of seats before Tami could even respond.

Julie made her way to the field as quickly as she could. It seemed everyone was heading that way, and she could only move as quickly as the crowd would let her. As soon as her feet touched the ground, her father enveloped her in a bear hug before turning to shake hands with his coaching staff.

It had only been a year since Matt had kissed Julie on the field in the aftermath of a victorious football game. The thought ran briefly through Julie's head as she pushed her way through the thick of it to get to Tim.

She reached him just as he was leaving the huddled celebration of his teammates. Tim hadn't even had time to take his helmet off yet, but when he spotted Julie he lifted her into the air, his arms tight around her waist.

Julie held onto his shoulders for stability and laughed as he spun her around. When he put her feet back on the ground, Tim kept his arm around her shoulders and took his helmet off, raising it high and yelling to one of his teammates.

From her seat in the stands with Gracie Bell, Tami watched the little celebration the two shared.

And that was the moment Tami Taylor knew for sure that her daughter was falling for number thirty-three of the Dillon Panthers, none other than the infamous Tim Riggins.


	17. No More

**_No More_**

* * *

After the first football game of the season, there is always a bonfire in an old lake bottom just out of town. It used to be a man-made lake, but it has been dry for decades and the teenagers of Dillon considered it a great place to throw parties.

Somewhere along the way, past Dillon High students had outfitted the lake bottom with wooden pallets, cinderblocks, old lawn chairs, and various other things for sitting around the big fire pit in the middle.

Of course Tim was there, having taken seat on one of the pallets near the fire. Julie was too, as Eric had shooed her off with Tim following the after-game dinner at the Taylor house. Even though Tim was _there_ , physically speaking, his mind was elsewhere.

Tim had been nursing the same beer for nearly an hour at that point, which definitely wasn't his usual self. The old Tim would have been quite a few beers in by that point.

He really wasn't paying much attention to his teammates and classmates around him. Tim was in his own head, thinking about Julie. He thought about Julie _a lot_. He was actually thinking about the conversation that led Julie to wear a Dillon Panthers t-shirt in the first place.

 _"_ _So are you gonna wear team colors tomorrow to support me?" Tim teased Julie after school on Thursday. The two had been sent by Eric to pick up Mexican takeout for dinner._

 _Julie had rolled her eyes while sitting beside him in his truck. "I'm the coach's daughter. It should just be assumed that I'll be rooting for the Panthers. I don't have to wear a stupid t-shirt to show that."_

 _The two of them were pretty far back in the drive thru line, so Tim didn't think twice about undoing his seatbelt and sliding closer to Julie._

 _"_ _Really, Jules?" He asked, his breath warm against her ear. He dipped his head lower, placing slow kisses against her neck. "Not even for me?"_

 _Tim had smiled against her neck when he heard Julie's breath hitch. He swept her long blonde out of the way and trailed the kisses to Julie's collarbone before she pushed him away. Tim was laughing as he moved back into the driver's sheet, and Julie's face had gone red with a blush._

 _"_ _For you," she said after taking a deep breath, "maybe I'll wear a Dillon t-shirt."_

Tim was brought out of these thoughts when someone sat down beside him. He turned his head to see none other than the subject of his thoughts—Julie, with her cheeks red from the fire and a soda can in her hand.

"Hey," she said, her brown eyes meeting his. Her hair was a little wind-whipped and messy. Tim liked it.

"Hi," Tim replied, a smile coming across his face despite himself. "What are you doin'?"

He was happy to have her next to him, but he was on edge at the same time. Their relationship was supposed to be a secret, after all.

"I'm sitting with you," Julie said plainly, giving him a smirk.

"Well, _duh,_ Jules. You know what I meant." Julie answered him with a shrug.

"My mom definitely knows. Which means my dad will know soon…so what's the problem with everyone else knowing?"

This was surprising news for Tim. He actually felt his heart speed up a little, like he had just been caught doing something he knew was wrong.

"What do you mean your mom knows?"

"While you were busy stuffing your face with pot roast and you head with my dad's compliments, my mom was shooting us looks the whole time. She _knows_. I know she does. So I figured everyone else could, too."

"You're sure about that?" Tim asked. He couldn't help but feel nervous. "Do you think we'll be in trouble?"

"Maybe, like, the tiniest amount." Julie flipped her hair over her shoulder. "They love you too much to kick you out, if that's what you're worried about."

"I doubt your parents love me," Tim said, taking a pull of his beer. It had gone warm in his hand and tasted sour, making his face scrunch up a little. He tossed what was left into the fire, the alcohol causing a little uproar in the flames as it burned away.

" _Tim, honey, could you do this? Tim, honey, I need a little help with that,_ " Julie said, mocking the way her mother addressed Tim. "Plus you're the only person in the house who will whole-heartedly live and breathe football with my dad. Trust me, you won't be going anywhere."

Tim felt a little better after Julie's reassurance, but he couldn't help asking just one more time, "You're sure?"

"Super sure," Julie beamed up at him, the firelight making her skin and hair almost the same shade of gold. Then she leaned into him, and despite the conversation they had just had, Tim felt a little flutter of excitement in his chest.

Tim wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"No more hiding it?" He asked, his lips against her hair as he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Nope. No more hiding it." Tim liked the smile he could hear in her voice.

And he liked being able to touch her in public. He liked the warmth of her body next to his on the wooden pallet and the weight of her head against his shoulder.

Nothing had ever felt as good for Tim in his whole life as Julie Taylor.


	18. Repercussions

**_Repercussions_**

* * *

"I'm sorry, honey, but I'm not seeing what the big deal is here," Eric said, bouncing Gracie on his knees. He had a sneaking suspicion weeks ago that something was going on with Tim and his daughter, but even to his own surprise, he hadn't been worried about it.

"The big deal is that our daughter has feelings for Tim Riggins. This isn't the least bit concerning for you, considering Tim's less-than-stellar track record?"

"Baby, tell me how often has Tim been drunk since living here? Or been out all night with some girl of the week? How're his grades? You're the school counselor, you should know stuff like that."

Tami paused in her dish washing, allowing her hands to sink fully into the soapy water as she turned to glare at her husband. She knew he was right—to an extent, at least. Tim had cleaned up his act considerably since living with the Taylors.

"Plus, baby, tell me if you've thought of this little aspect: Tim and Julie both live here. We can make sure they are never alone together."

That honestly wasn't something that Tami had thought of, though she realized Eric had some merit there.

"Are you saying we should let them do this?"

"They're kids. Julie isn't stupid, if something bad were going to come of this, I'm sure it would have happened by now."

Another good point. Maybe, just maybe, Tami hadn't thought about it as much as Eric had. His mind seemed to be made up by now, anyway.

"Still," Tami said stubbornly, "I think there should be some rules and stipulations."

"Didn't I just say we can make sure they aren't alone together?"

If Eric hadn't been out of her reach in the living room, Tami would have thrown some soapy water at him.

* * *

The reaction from Julie's parents was miniscule in comparison to the lectures from Matt and Lyla.

Eric and Tami just laid out rules: no being alone together in the house, their joint curfew was 11:30 p.m. Aside from those rules, Eric and Tami promised not to meddle in their relationship.

Julie definitely noted the difficulty with which her parents delivered that last part. At the same time, she was grateful her parents were willing to trust herself and Tim to even have a relationship together.

On one hand, both Tim and Julie were happy to have it out in the open. On the other, both were just a little sad that now that it was known, there would be no more opportunities to slip away and make out.

* * *

It was almost like Lyla and Matt had planned it, since they both chose Monday at school as a good time to strike.

That morning, after Tim and Julie arrived at school together, Tim didn't let go of her hand. Instead, he held it the entire time he walked her to class. For most of Dillon High, this wasn't exactly surprising after the two spent the Friday night bonfire cuddled up together.

Lyla and Matt both saw the action as the continuation of a nightmare.

Julie was alone at her locker, in between fifth and sixth period, when Lyla approached her.

"Hi, Julie," Lyla said as she walked up to her. The smile on Lyla's face looked like it hurt her to place it there. Julie fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Hi, Lyla." Julie tried to walk passed her, but Lyla moved her body to block the path.

"I really wanted to talk to you, if that's okay."

The forced niceness in Lyla's face just about did Julie in. She couldn't hold the eye roll back this time.

"Just say what you want to say." Julie crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm just trying to look out for you, Julie. I know he's a bad boy, and that makes him exciting, but I really don't think it's a good idea for you to be dating Tim. I mean, do you have any idea how many girls he's been with?"

Julie could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. Not because Lyla's words embarrassed her or anything like that; no, it was because the words made her angry.

"Lyla, _you_ are in that number of girls he's been with, no matter how much you like to pretend you aren't. Why don't you just save this lecture for your prayers tonight? I don't want to hear it."

Julie pushed by Lyla, but when she was a few steps away, she turned back.

"Oh, by the way, it looks like you should add 'envy' to your list of sins, right under 'cheating on my paralyzed boyfriend'. You know, since we're obviously keeping lists here."

The deep shade of purple-red that washed over Lyla's face put a big smile on Julie's.

Matt, for his part, waited until after football practice to confront Tim. That was after spending the whole practice either ignoring Tim when he was open for the ball, or tackling him as hard as he could even when it wasn't necessary.

And really, _Tim_ was the one to confront Matt, having grown tired of the passive-aggressive behavior during practice.

"What the hell was that?" Tim asked, removing his helmet and getting in Matt's face as soon as they were in the locker room.

"Are you really that dumb not to know?" Matt practically spit at him through the face guard of his helmet.

"Man, _you're_ the one who dumped Julie. Don't act like a little, beat puppy about it."

Matt, of course, knew this was true. Ever since he first suspected that something was going on, he had been beating himself up about breaking up with Julie.

Lacking a decent response to that, Matt pushed Tim hard enough to make his back hit the wall. When Tim didn't raise his hands to fight back, Matt just got angrier. He took hold of Tim's jersey, so that they were face-to-face. Or as face-to-face as they could be, considering Matt's helmet.

"You're not good enough for her. She's gonna figure that out one day, and she'll leave you."

For some reason, all Tim could do was laugh at Matt's words.

"Man, nobody on this earth is good enough for Jules. Not you, not me. Nobody. You think I don't know that?" Tim finally pushed Matt away from him. "There's really only one difference between you and me, Saracen, and that's who's got her. And that ain't you."

None of the other Panthers had made a move to intercept any kind of fight that could have sprung up between the two. Rather, they had all moved back, giving Matt and Tim a wide space.

Tim had to push through the crowd of his teammates to get to his locker so he could change out of his football uniform. He did so with shaking hands.

He was madder than hell, but he also knew better than to get in a fight with Matt Saracen. For one thing, Julie wouldn't like it. Neither would Coach. And for once, Tim had things in his life worth more than being the victor of a fist fight.


	19. Julie

_Julie_

* * *

Tim was afraid it would sound creepy if he ever said it out loud, but he really liked watching Julie. He just thought she was really beautiful when she thought no one was watching her.

He liked to watch her when she sang along to the radio in his truck. Tim's truck was so old that it didn't even have a CD player in it. On top of that, Tim wasn't ever much one for music—he just listened to whatever Street listened to—so he kept the radio in his truck set to the local Dillon channel.

That channel only broadcasted two things: Panther football and country songs. Julie didn't even _like_ country music, but after a while she started to sing along absentmindedly. She would always look out the window, too, but only at the sky. Never at Dillon all around her.

On their drives to school, Tim liked to watch the early morning sunlight turn her face golden and he lips move to the words of the songs. Sometimes she would catch him.

"What?" She would always say, a blush rising in her cheeks at being caught. Then she would roll her hazel eyes when she would see the grin on his face.

"Nothin'," he would always tell her, even though really he was thinking about how cute she was.

He liked to watch her paint her nails. When she did hers, she always did Gracie Bell's to match. Gracie also got to pick the colors after Julie had set them out in front of her. This led to some interesting color combos—purple and yellow with orange glitter on top; white on every nail except one, which was lime green.

Tim liked the look of concentration on her face, her eyebrows knitted together while she painted Gracie Bell's tiny fingernails. He liked the look of bemusement while she did her own and Gracie ran around the house, showing Tim and her parents how Julie had done her nails.

And she was never ashamed to wear the combinations Gracie Bell came up with, no matter how outrageous they were.

He liked to watch her during the one class they had ever shared together at Dillon High—introductory Spanish. Julie was a doodler. Tim had known that before, from all the nights they had done homework together at the Taylors' kitchen table, but he had never seen it in action.

They didn't sit very close to each other, because the teacher had put them in alphabetical order by their first names. But from his seat near the back, Tim could still see her.

She would sit with one foot tucked under her, leaning a little to the right so she could doodle in the margins of her notebooks. Tim would try to guess what she was making. Usually it was flowers or moons and stars, with swirling designs all around. Tim's own name had started to pop up in her doodles, too.

He really liked when he saw his own name tucked away inside the designs she created.

Tim most liked to watch her face when she would wrap her arms around his waist and tip her head back to look at him, just before she would spring forward on her tiptoes to kiss him. Her eyes would be shining, and her freckled nose would crinkle a little as she smiled.

Julie didn't even have to say anything to make Tim, oddly, feel an ache in his chest. No one in the world had ever looked as happy to see him as Julie did.


	20. And That Was the First Time

_And That was the First Time_

* * *

Since Tim and Julie lived in the same house, and their out in the open relationship meant the end of the two of them being left alone in the Taylor household, Tim's truck became a private place for the teenagers.

Really, it had always been that way for them to an extent. Before they went public, it was a place of secret hand holding and kissing; a space for shared ice cream cones and firework shows.

Once all of Dillon knew that Tim Riggins was dating Julie Taylor, the old truck became a refuge from the eyes of parents and peers alike.

They were very fortunate that of all the things Julie considered Dillon to be lacking, dirt backroads was not one of them.

Luckily for the two of them, the part of Texas they lived in was notorious for skipping over the fall and winter seasons in favor of extending summer weather. This made all of their time spent either in the cab or bed of the truck more comfortable than they would be with cold weather.

"We practically live here," Julie said with a laugh, her head resting on Tim's stomach. They were laying in the bed of the truck, Julie vertically while Tim laid horizontally with his legs thrown over the side. The hard metal of the bed was cushioned by the blankets Tim had used the night they watched the fireworks together.

At that moment, they were watching thin, gauzy clouds move across a mid-October sky.

"Well, we got rules now," Tim reminded her. Julie shrugged, her shoulders digging into Tim's stomach just a little.

"Yeah, but at least we don't have to sneak around anymore." Julie sat up and crossed her legs, leaning forward so that her face hovered above Tim's. Her hair was just a little mussed from laying against the fabric of his shirt, and the pale moonlight made it almost white.

"I mean, my parents know for a fact that I'm probably off somewhere making out with you, and I don't care. It feels really good not to care what other people think."

Tim smirked up at her while Julie's fingers found their way into his hair. He knew she would never admit it, but he knew that dating Dillon's resident bad boy had given Julie a confidence boost. Tim was certain she enjoyed the glares from the rally girls and Lyla more than Julie would ever say.

"I think that's probably the secret to happiness in life, Jules: doing whatever you want." Tim reached up and caught the hand playing with his hair, pulling on it to bring Julie closer. Once she was in reach, he kissed her hard on the mouth.

Here was the thing. Before dating Julie, Tim had had _a lot_ of sex. More, probably, than anyone at his age should have. But that was neither here nor there, considering the fact he had already done it.

It would be a lie to say Tim didn't think of Julie that way. Often. Just a glance at her full lips and imagining how they would feel on various parts of his body was enough to put Tim's mind into a tailspin.

Julie wasn't unaware of this fact. It was another aspect of the confidence boost, knowing Tim found her sexually attractive. And she knew he did, because often, when they were making out, there would be a wayward hand that found its way to her breasts or exhilaratingly close to being between her thighs.

But she always knocked his hands away, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was in her throat.

Except she didn't on this night in mid-October.

The night had started so normally, so innocently, that the events that followed came as a surprise to not only Tim, but to Julie herself.

When Tim put a hand on Julie's hip, rolling her so that she was underneath him, she didn't say a word. Not that she could get a word out anyways, as preoccupied as her mouth was with Tim's.

A warm and callused hand slipped underneath the hem of her blouse, moving slowly up her stomach. While it caused a shiver to course through her spine, it was not something Julie didn't enjoy.

"You good, Jules?" Tim asked, mistaking the way her body arched toward his as something negative.

"More than good," she told him, surprised at how breathy her voice sounded. Julie took Tim's face between her hands, pulling his face back down to hers and catching his mouth once again.

Tim took this as a good sign, moving his hand further upward, first over and then beneath the silky bra Julie wore.

"You can take them off," Julie told him in a whisper. Tim was surprised for a moment, making him pause before taking the hem of Julie's shirt in his hands.

"You're sure?" He asked, but even as he said it, Tim was using the leverage to pull Julie into a sitting position so he could take the shirt off.

"Entirely," Julie breathed, raising her hands so that Tim could slip it over her head.

The previous summer, Tim had seen Julie in her lifeguard's uniform countless times, seeing Julie in her bra was surprisingly different. For one thing, the bathing suit for lifeguards had been one piece. Never had he seen so much of Julie.

He liked the contrast of the black silk and her pale skin, and a tiny freckle he spotted just above her belly button. Placing a hand to steady her, Tim dipped his head low to press his lips to that little freckle.

As his lips were pressed to her skin, Tim felt as well as heard Julie's breath hitch. Tim lifted his head, a mischievous glint in his eye as he met Julie's.

"You can take mine off, too." While Julie had been wearing a plain shirt, Tim's plaid involved buttons. Smiling a nervous little smile at him, Julie sat up further and began to undo the buttons on Tim's shirt.

Julie had seen Tim shirtless before, of course. Boys were allowed to be a lot freer that way. She knew what would lay underneath, lean muscles and skin still tanned from working on a farm all summer.

Her hands were a little shaky as she released each button from its hole, but Julie eventually got them each undone and then watched as Tim shrugged out of the shirt. He set both of their shirts aside before turning his attention back to Julie.

Tim picked up her still shaky hands and held them in his own, giving them what he hoped would be a reassuring squeeze.

"If you wanna stop, just tell me, and we will. I promise, Jules."

"I don't think I want to stop," Julie said in a voice that she barely recognized as her own.

"Okay, then," Tim said with a smile, gently pushing Julie back into the bed of blankets.

As he did so, he slipped a hand behind her back.

"One hundred percent sure?" he asked. When Julie nodded, Tim easily undid the clasp of her bra with one hand. It was a trick he'd always been proud of, and he almost laughed at the look of surprise as he so easily removed another piece of her clothing.

"Real smooth," Julie teased just a moment later, slipping her arms out of the bra straps herself.

Tim wasn't entirely smooth so much as he thought it was fast. This was zero to sixty, it seemed—Julie had never let him go so far, and now she seemed determined to let him go all the way.

He trailed kisses down all that bare skin, growing more and more excited each time he felt a shiver rippled through Julie, until he reached the waistline of her jeans. A glance upward asked for permission before his hands moved to unbutton them.

Julie laughed when the jeans got tangled as Tim tried to remove them. She sat up and shook her legs, helping him to get them loose.

"Do you wanna do mine?" Tim asked. Julie nodded, running her fingertips down his sides and then across his hipbones before undoing the button. The sigh that escaped Tim's lips made some new feeling swell inside of her as she worked the jeans down Tim's hips and legs.

"God, Julie," Tim said in a rush, pulling her towards him so that their skin was flush with each other's. He never used her real name. Hearing it both surprised her and made her feel incredibly intimate—more so than being mostly naked with him had, interestingly enough.

There was not much left separating them anymore, and that was soon gone in an exhilarating rush before Tim spoke again.

"Oh, shit, hold on," Tim mumbled against her mouth before pulling himself away to rifle through his jean pockets until he found his wallet.

Julie was suddenly glad Tim was so much more experienced than she was. She had forgotten all about the need for protection in the heat of the moment.

"You're really sure?" Tim asked, once everything was situated. "Like, really, really sure? Because, I mean, I don't know for sure, but I hear it hurts for some girls the first time and I—"

Julie cut him off with a kiss that definitely made Tim forget the nerves he was feeling about being her first.

"I'm completely sure," Julie said as Tim tipped his forehead against hers, his eyes still closed.

He opened them slowly, his question still in his eyes despite the words Julie had just spoken. She nodded, biting her lip and gently running her hands through his hair.

So Tim pushed a strand away from her face before pulling her closer to him.

"I'll go slow," he promised.

And he did, moving slowly and gently inside her. To Julie's surprise, none of it hurt like all the horror stories she'd heard of other girls' first times inside locker rooms and whispered conversations in study hall.

Rather, Julie found herself moving along with Tim in ways she hadn't known herself capable of before that night.

Hours later, Julie's skin still burned and tingled in all the places Tim's mouth and hands had touched in the bed of that truck. She was alone in her own bed at home, with several rooms separating herself from Tim. Despite that distance, Julie felt like he was still with her.

Chewing on her lip and pulling the covers tightly over her head, Julie tried to breathe slowly and calm the beating of her heart.

Of course it had been nerve-wracking coming home and seeing her parents after what she and Tim had just done. But more nerve-wracking than that was the overwhelming feeling that had come over Julie while Tim was inside her, which still hadn't faded as she tried to force herself into sleep.

This was something else she had never felt before. She had thought she had, before that night, with Matt, but she realized she was wrong.

Julie was suddenly very, _very_ aware of the fact that she was in love with Tim.


	21. Read to Me

_Read to Me_

* * *

Tim would be the first to tell you that reading wasn't his thing. Before living with the Taylors and dating Julie, there was a point in time when he had tried very inconvincibly to get Tami to believe he had read _The Scarlet Letter_.

"You see, it's about a gal…named Scarlet…" Julie would sometimes tease him. She knew, of course, because there was also a time when she and Tami had laughed about the incident. And Julie was capable of a dead-on impression of the words Tim had used that day.

Julie would pull out the impression when Tim would grumble about a reading assignment of any kind, whether it be a novel or a textbook. Tim always faked annoyance at it, even though he thought it was funny to hear Julie try to force her voice as deep as his own.

"I just don't like to read, Jules. The voice in my head is boring."

This was a thought that was unfathomable for Julie, considering her own love of reading. But Julie also knew that out of all the things Tim liked—football and watching rodeos and hearty meals and beer—he himself was _not_ on the list. Reading and allowing his mind to wander probably would not be enjoyable for someone like Tim.

There was one way, however, that Julie was able to get Tim to take part in her love of books, and that was to read _to_ him.

With Tim's head resting in her lap, Julie would read out loud to him. More often than not, Tim would park his truck on a back road he knew. Julie would put her feet up on the dash, and Tim would lean against her.

Tim really loved the sound of Julie's voice. He didn't really care about the stories she read. Truth be told, if you asked him, he wouldn't be able to tell you _what_ it was that Julie read to him.

He liked the feeling in her voice. When Julie read, it was with feeling. It wasn't like a robot, like the teachers at school when they read out loud during school. Plus Tim just liked Julie's sweet voice anyway.

 _"_ _It was many and many a year ago_ ," Julie read from a thick book. _Edgar Alan Poe_ , Tim read from his upside down perspective. Tim knew he was Julie's favorite author. " _In a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of Annabel Lee."_

Julie's hand worked its way into Tim's hair as she read through the poem.

 _"_ _And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me."_

Since Tim's hair was decently long for a boy, Julie had a habit of twirling his locks around her fingers.

 _"_ I _was a child and_ she _was a child, in this kingdom by the sea, but we loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee—with a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven coveted her and me."_

"What the hell is a seraph?" Tim asked, interrupting Julie's flow of the poem.

Julie moved the book over a little, so she could look down at him. "It's an angel. You're supposed to save your questions for the end."

Tim had a habit of interrupting Julie while reading. Even though Julie always pretended to be mad, she thought it was adorable, and it made her happy to know he was paying attention.

 _"_ _And this was the reason that, long ago, in this kingdom by the sea, a wind blew out of a cloud, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee; so that her highborn kinsmen came and bore her away from me to shut her up in a sepulcher in this kingdom by the sea."_

Before Tim could even ask, Julie moved the book aside and said, "A _sepulcher_ is a grave, by the way."

"You interrupted yourself that time, Jules."

"Hush. _The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, went envying her and me—Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, in this kingdom by the sea), that the wind came out of the cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee."_

Tim pulled the piece of hay he'd been chewing on out of his mouth and snapped off the bit he had chewed through. He would never tell Julie, but he kind of got sleepy each time she read to him, so he tried to keep his mouth busy while she read.

 _"_ _But our love it was stronger by far than the love of those older than we—of many far wiser than we—and neither the angels in Heaven above nor the demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee."_

Julie glanced down at Tim again. Even though she loved to read to him, sometimes she got a little embarrassed about it. She wasn't sure why, but she thought it had something to do with how intimate it felt to read to him. Every time she did, she was sharing parts of herself with him.

 _"_ _For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, in her sepulcher there by the sea—in her tomb by the sounding sea."_

Tim chewed on his piece of hay, enjoying the feeling of Julie's hand in her hair.

"Julie, every time you read me stuff from this dead guy, it's always so damn sad."

Julie couldn't help but laugh. She knew that he was going to say that. Edgar Alan Poe was her favorite author, and nobody really understood that. Her parents didn't, Matt hadn't, and obviously Tim didn't. But he was more honest with it than any of them had been.

Folding over herself, Julie lowered her head and kissed Tim.


	22. Street

_Street_

* * *

"So tell me about Julie, man," Tim was hanging out with Jason. He didn't get to see his best friend nearly as much as he used to. Tim knew part of that was his own fault, and he kicked himself about it often.

"You know Jules. I don't know what you want me to say."

The two were tossing a basketball back and forth. It was super simple for Tim, but he knew it wasn't for Jason. Tim was trying to throw the basketball hard enough that Jason wouldn't complain that he was taking it easy on him, yet softly enough that he wouldn't accidently hurt Jason.

"No, _you_ know Julie. I mean, you should, right? You even have a nickname for her. All I know about her is that she's Coach's daughter."

Tim fell quiet for a moment while he thought. "Well, she's never forced me to go to church."

The jab at Lyla earned Tim a smirk and Jason raising his hand and flipping him off as best as he could.

Tim smiled at Jason while he thought. There was a lot he could say about Julie, but he wasn't sure he would ever get it out of his mouth.

"She makes sure she waves to me from the stand before every game." It was like a tradition for the two of them. Before taking the field, Tim would scan the stands until he caught sight of Julie. He hardly knew how he had played football before, without the exchange of waves with Julie Taylor.

Under Friday night lights, Tim knew he could look up into the stands and see Julie's big smile beaming down on him. He could glance at her from across her parents' kitchen table, and that alone was enough to elicit a smile from her. There was just something about Julie.

Tim laughed a little, thinking of another thing to tell Jason. He found it just as amusing as he found it annoying.

"When she gets really annoyed with me, she calls me 'Timothy', even though I've told her a million times that's not my name."

More accurately, Tim would say to Julie, _"Woman, my name is not Timothy. Just Tim. I'll show you my damn birth certificate."_

Jason laughed. "Like that sub in third grade, remember? She always called you Timothy no matter how much you fought her on it."

"Trust me, Jules is nothing like that devil woman."

There was Jason's lopsided smile that used to come easily but was now hard to coax out.

"You know, you only give nicknames to people you really like. I don't think you've called me Jason since the day we met."

"So I call her Jules, it's not a big deal."

Jason's throws were getting stronger. His basketball team was doing him good, Tim thought.

"Then tell me what the big deal _is_ about your Jules."

Tim spun the basketball around in his hands. How was he supposed to tell Jason all the things he felt for Julie?

How to explain that Julie was the first person he felt he could call his? There had never been consistency from his parents. Billy tried, but he couldn't take a parent's place. The Taylors were far better, but despite all they had done for him, Tim still couldn't fully call them his.

Not the way he could with their daughter.

How to put into words that Julie's big brown eyes were always shining and happy to see him?

Or that her blonde hair always smelled like flowers?

Or that her sweet voice said his name in a way that never suggested failure or disappointment?

How could he voice that seeing her each day filled him with a rising feeling in his chest, an adrenaline rush that never faded? Or how his mind drifted towards her when they were apart? His days had gone from something he experienced alone to mental notes of _"I'll tell Jules about this later."_

He didn't know how to put into words that being with Julie felt like the biggest stroke of luck and the only right thing he'd done in his life all at once.

Lucky for him, Tim didn't have to say any of it. As he looked down at the spinning orange ball in his hands, Jason was watching him, with a huge smile on his face.

"So you love her, huh, Timmy? And here I was thinking you weren't capable."

This time when Tim threw the ball, he forgot to be gentle. He lobbed it at Jason, but Jason managed to catch it as Tim's face turned red.

"Shut up, man."

But Tim didn't deny that he loved Julie, and that was all the validation Jason needed. He had been right.

Tim loved Julie.


	23. Secret

_Secret_

* * *

Tim and Julie had kept a secret from basically all of Dillon, but there was a secret that Eric Taylor was keeping from his daughter and her boyfriend.

This secret involved Tim and his role on the Dillon Panthers.

It was no secret that, as a graduating senior, Smash Williams was being looked at by college scouts. What _was_ a secret was that Tim Riggins, also a graduating senior, was also being looked at by college scouts.

Eric decided to keep this secret primarily because college was never something that Tim talked about. He wasn't sure it was something that Tim would consider, either. That is, unless he got Julie on board with him.

He had seen over the last few months that his daughter had the power to talk Tim Riggins into almost anything. Maybe even college, if only for the football aspect.

So on a day half-way through football season, Eric decides to call his daughter to his office.

"Are you even allowed to summon students?" Julie asked as she stepped into her father's office. "I'm almost certain this is a bio hazard."

Eric's office was located in the Dillon Panthers' locker room. Even he had to admit that the walk through the locker room to his office usually smelled like old sweat, body odor, and leather.

"Believe it or not, baby girl, it is allowed. Pretty amazing all the perks a winning football record gets you, huh?"

Julie took a look around the office, which Eric kept pretty bare. There wasn't a lot to look at, other than the plain white-brick walls and a couple of framed photos of Julie, Gracie Bell, and Tamie on his desk. Plagues of the Panthers' state championship wins were the only real decorations.

"Sure, if you wanna call it 'perks'."

Eric raised his eyebrows so far that his eyebrows almost disappeared under the brim of his baseball hate. He leaned forward over his desk, reaching and arm out and tousling his daughter's hair, much to her annoyance.

"Daaaad!" She chided him, her hands flying up and trying to straighten out the mess he'd made. "Why did you call me in here anyway? I'm missing my English class."

Laughing at himself, Eric sat back down in his chair and opened his desk drawer before pulling out a stack of papers. On top of the little stack was a sticky note with Tim's name written on it.

"I wanted to talk to you about our boy Timmy," Eric told his daughter. "And his plans after graduation."

Julie gave her father a perplexed look. "I don't think Tim has any plans for after graduation."

It had never occurred to Julie before that moment. She knew, logically, that Tim would be graduating in May, but it was something that she chose to ignore. Tim never brought up any plans for post-graduation, and Julie certainly never asked.

"I reckon he probably doesn't, but he's going to if I have anything to say about it." Eric passed the stack of papers to his daughter. A quick flip through them revealed them to be college applications for schools in Texas.

"Notice only Texas colleges are in that stack. I know as well as anyone you'd have to kill Tim before he'd willingly be anywhere other than Texas. You know, 'Texas forever' and all that crap."

Julie looked at the names on the applications. Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Texas A & M in College Station. University of Texas at Austin, in Austin, of course. Baylor University in Waco.

They were all good schools. But Tim _hated_ school. Really, Julie was almost certain Tim only did homework to appease herself and her mother. If he just sucked it up and did it, then two of the Taylor women stayed off his back. It was a win-win.

"But Dad…" Julie started, but her father cut her off.

"I know. Tim Riggins at college is hard for me to picture, too. There's a good chance he could have the opportunity to attend one of those schools, though. Wanna know a little secret, Julie?"

Julie looked up from the applications in her lap, raising her eyebrows in much the same fashion that her father did.

"It ain't a secret, thanks to Smash's huge mouth, that college football recruiters have been looking at him. What _is_ a secret is that recruiters have been at games to watch Tim, too."

Julie's eyebrows went from raised to knitted together. "Why wouldn't you tell Tim that, though? That's something he should know! I mean, the season is almost half over!"

"I know, I know. And Tim has been playing better this season than he's ever played. I'm not even sure he would ever consider college, even if he went as a football player. I didn't want him to blow his chances if he knew, alright? Don't look at me like that, Julie. I know what I'm doing."

Though Julie wasn't so sure her father really knew what he was doing, she let him continue.

"I need your help in this. If you will, I want you to kind of get the idea in Tim's head. Put some feelers out, see if he would do it. These scouts, they like his game play and they like his change in academics, too. If he keeps playing how he's been playing, they'll wanna start meeting with him. I need to see if he'd be on board before we get to that point."

Julie flicked through the applications again. She had never thought that Tim would be anywhere other than in Dillon, with her. She also wasn't sure she _wanted_ him to be far away from her. But she had to admit that it would be a great opportunity for Tim, to get a free ride to college for football.

"Okay," Julie said, looking up at her father. "I'll _try_. I can't guarantee it will work, though."


	24. Little Lady, You're Crazy

_Little Lady, You're Crazy_

* * *

Julie wasn't entirely sure _how_ she would keep her word to her father, she just knew she _would_. She knew very well that Tim only bothered to do homework to keep herself and her mother off of his back. After all, Tami was fond of reminding Eric that his players weren't allowed to hit the field if their grade point averages slipped too low.

Tim like football, plaid shirts, that dumb Bear Grylls show he made her watch all the time, working out on the farm, and barbecue. Julie wasn't sure any of that could translate into a college degree. Except, maybe, the farm work.

It was an idea that grew on Julie as she sat on it for a week and thought about it. Even if he hated the school part of it, even if he never used whatever degree he decided to get, at least he would have the opportunity to go. And most people who grew up the way Tim did, they definitely did _not_ get the opportunity.

Julie twirled the end of her ponytail around her finger, looking up from her math equations to take a peek at Tim. The two of them were sitting on the back porch, doing their homework together. Sometimes they would take their work outside, if only to have a tiny bit of privacy away from Julie's parents for a little while.

Tim was flipping through his history book, looking for the correct answers to a test he was correcting. He had made a high C—Julie could see the big, red 78 circled at the top of the page—but he was doing the corrections anyway because Tami had told him test corrections could go a long way in making sure his GPA stayed solid for football.

"Hey," Julie said, stretching her leg out and tapping Tim with her foot.

"What's up?" He asked, not looking up from his book. There was a huge picture of John F. Kennedy looking back at him.

"What do you think about college?"

Tim's eyes flicked up at her for a second. There was a glint in them that showed that he was amused by her question.

"You should go," he told her, a smirk playing at his lips while he crossed out one of the short answer questions on his test and scribbling in a new answer beneath it.

"Noooo, not for me, you booty butt." The term 'booty butt' was one that Gracie had coined; eventually it worked its way into the rest of the family's vocabulary. "I meant, what do you think about you going to college?"

"I think that wouldn't happen." Tim took his test and flipped it over to show Julie the grade on it, but all Julie did was roll her eyes.

"C's get degrees, you know."

Despite what he thought, and what other people thought, Tim wasn't dumb. C's were average. Julie knew that. She told Tim all the time that C's were right where people were supposed to be, but that the American school system pushed kids too hard and made them think that the only acceptable grades were A's.

It was a repeated rant, one Julie had first learned from Tami, but apparently she didn't have the same affect her mother did. Tim never listened to it, not really.

"I don't even _like_ school, Jules." He didn't like school, but he did like football.

Before she could stop herself, Julie blurted out, "But what if you could play football there?"

Tim looked up at her in surprise, his eyebrows knitted together. He soon dropped his head back down to stare at his book.

"I don't think I'm good enough to be a walk-on anywhere, Jules."

Julie wanted so badly to tell him in that moment, but instead she leaned over and kissed his cheek. She was trying to tell him she thought he was better than he would ever think.

"Well, if you _did_ go, what would you study?" This time when Tim looked up, Julie could see the slight annoyance playing over his features.

"Is there a degree in football?"

"There's degrees in sports sciences."

"I don't like other sports. I only like football." Never mind the fact that last spring, when Tim had first come to live with the Taylors, he had spent his time passionately yelling at baseball players on the TV with Eric.

Julie blew her breath out of her nose. She was getting frustrated, but she knew better than to push Tim further when he obviously wasn't in the mood to talk about this. She resolved herself to try again on another day.

* * *

'Another day' came two days later, at lunch. Dillon High had decided that students could eat outside, rather than in the cafeteria, if they wanted to. As long as they stayed on campus. It was a compromise the school administration had come to when the student body president had pushed for open-campus lunch the previous school year.

Tim and Julie were eating together, behind the old gym, which had continued to be one of their favorite spots even though their relationship was no longer a secret.

Julie watched Tim take a bite of his sandwich, she herself taking a bite out of one of the carrots on her tray. They were sitting side by side, but Tim wasn't paying attention to Julie. He was looking across the grass, watching a little squirrel struggle to pick up a rather large pecan that had fallen from one of the trees on the school campus.

"So," she said, watching Tim watch the squirrel. "If you _did_ want to go to college, where would you want to go?"

Tim cut his eyes at her, though he finished chewing and swallowing before he turned to her.

"Little lady," this was another nickname Tim had for her, though he'd stolen it from her father and only used it when he wanted to get a rise out of her, "you are crazy. I dunno what made you get this idea into your head."

A mischievous look worked its way into Tim's features.

"Maybe I should give you something else to think about." Tim moved both of their trays off their laps, before moving forward and wrapping his arm around Julie's waist. He leaned her back, nearly to the ground, as he kissed her in a way she never expected him to at school.


	25. Now There's an Idea

_Now There's an Idea_

* * *

Julie knew Tim loved football. She could see it in his face after every Friday night game, with the eye-black running down his ruddy cheeks and sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. He always looked triumphant, regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard.

And she knew he would love the chance to get to play regularly for four more years. Once she could convince him that college was a good idea, of course.

"Y'know," Julie told Tim one evening as they sat on her parent's couch together, " _if_ you were to go to college, there would be more alone time."

Eric and Tami had initially been wary to leave the two alone together, considering Tim's history. That is, until Eric pointed out that before they knew the two were dating, they had been left alone together often.

Julie was tucked under Tim's arm, and some movie that Julie had picked was playing on the TV. Since her head was resting against his chest, Julie didn't see Tim's eye roll.

"I think you just might drive me insane, Jules," he told her, dropping a kiss on her head to soften the annoyance he heard in his own voice. Tim hated the idea of making Julie upset, and he was hoping the tone of his voice wouldn't do just that.

Julie untangled herself from Tim, so that she was sitting up next to him. Her hair was messed up a little from where she was laying on him.

Tim was surprised when, instead of being upset with his obvious annoyance, Julie leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. Even more to his surprise, it was a long and lingering kiss.

"C'mon," Julie told him, slipping her hand into his. "Think about."

Tim _did_ like the alone time with Julie. They didn't get a lot of it, and it was nice to spend time with her without the prying eyes of her parents or the townspeople of Dillon on them. People still couldn't quite wrap their heads around Coach Taylor's daughter and bad boy Tim Riggins being a couple.

"It will be a different town, without nosy people. And you'd have your own space at college. And my parents wouldn't be there."

"What makes you think that your parents would just let you come spend days on end with me in a different town? I'm still not even allowed in your bedroom."

Julie gave Tim a rueful look. "Like that has stopped you when they aren't home."

Tim smirked at her, because she was right. Though technically _not_ allowed to be there, that hadn't stopped him when the Taylors weren't home.

"Besides, I'll be eighteen next year. And a senior. Plus after this summer, I should have enough money to buy a car."

Julie had been scrounging all the money she could, both from her summer job at the swimming pool and the occasional twenty bucks she could sometimes glean from her parents from babysitting Gracie Bell. Even before she started dating Tim, she had planned on buying a car. She definitely had more incentive now, though.

"And being an eighteen year old senior is going to make your parents stop being so protective?" Tim asked, the smirk on his face widening.

"I'm dating you, aren't I? Did you ever think _that_ would happen?"

Julie knew she had a point, and she punctuated it with another slow kiss. While her lips moved against Tim's, Julie shifted herself until she was sitting on his lap.

When Julie pulled away this time, it was with her hands tangle in Tim's hair and his gripping her hips.

"I know you don't like school," Julie told him, "and homework isn't your thing, either. But I know you're smarter than you think you are, and definitely good enough at football to get a scholarship. You can't tell me that more alone time doesn't sound good, either."

Tim tipped his head back a little to look Julie in the eye. With her on his lap, she was just a little bit taller than him.

"If I told you I would think about it, would it make you shut up for a little while?" Tim asked, enjoying the feeling of Julie running the fingers through his hair.

"Will you _really_ think about it? Not just say you're going to?"

"Yes, Jules. I'll _really_ think about it…only because more alone time with you is a selling point. You got me there."


	26. Late Night Talks

_Late Night Talks_

* * *

Sometimes, Julie just couldn't sleep. It had always happened to her, a couple nights a month. She wouldn't go far as to say that she had insomnia, but she was definitely no stranger to sleepless nights.

Before Tim lived with the Taylors, Julie usually spent these nights watching the living room TV with subtitles instead of sound, or reading in her bedroom.

But after Tim became a resident of the house, Julie's sleepless night plans changed. See, for now Julie had someone she could actually talk to when her mind refused to shut off.

She would pad across the house in these fuzzy socks she liked to wear to bed, making her footsteps pretty much silent. Tim didn't understand those damn fuzzy socks in the least bit—Dillon never truly got cold enough to warrant anything other than a medium-weight jacket. He didn't know how Julie could stand to wear the things.

But she did, and they helped her to make the journey from her room to Tim's so quietly that she never ran the risk of waking her parents or Gracie Bell.

These journeys were a regular enough occasion that Tim soon learned to leave his door slightly ajar, also in the pursuit of quietness. Julie would pull it open slowly, because the door to the garage-turned-Tim's-bedroom had a tendency to let out a high-pitched squeak if you opened it too quickly.

Julie never turned any lights on, so Tim never knew when she would appear in his room in the middle of the night until he felt her crawl into his bed and conform her body to his.

Since Tim usually slept facing the wall, Julie would wrap her arm around his waist and trail kisses around his back until he woke.

"What is it this time?" Tim would ask in a slurred whisper, sleep making his voice thick and clumsy. He would roll himself until he faced her.

"This is a serious question," Julie whispered back, "so don't laugh. Do you think, when you have a pet, they understand that you love them? Like _really_ understand?"

" _That's_ what's keeping you up at night, Jules? If Rex the dog has feelings?"

"No, but think about it," Julie would try to justify as Tim's mind fully surfaced from sleep. Typically, he would rub his eyes even though he knew it would be dark when he opened them. "You feed them and take care of them. Buy them medicine if they're sick. Groom their fur. But you don't speak the same language, so how do you really know?"

"All's I know is that you're somethin' else," Tim would murmur against her skin as he buried his face in the crook where her neck met her shoulder. When he was just waking up like this, his Texas drawl was thicker and his words slower than usual.

"Like, how is a goldfish ever supposed to know you care about it?" Julie continued to muse.

"Don't goldfish only pay attention for, like, three seconds?" Tim asked, stifling a yawn. "They can't even remember who you are, Jules."

"You can't pet a goldfish. Well, I guess you could, if you were really committed," Julie prattled on as if Tim hadn't spoken. "And it's not like you can _play_ with a goldfish either. All you do is feed it."

"I dunno, I think most everything is pretty happy if it gets fed."

"But I don't mean just happy," Julie lamented. She ran her fingers through Tim's hair, which only served to draw him closer to going back to sleep. "I mean real love. I wonder if animals understand that."

There was a silence so long that Julie thought Tim had fallen back asleep. She was just about to untangle herself from his arms when he spoke again.

"I heard once that if you die and no one finds you for a while, your cat will eat your face."

"Timothy."

"Woman, stop calling me that."

" _Timothy._ That was terrible. Why would you say that?" She meant to sound like she was scolding him, but Tim could hear the held-back laughter in her voice.

"Cats'll eat your face. Doesn't sound like love to me. Can I go back to sleep now? You know your dad is making us have morning practice since they're doin' maintenance on the field after school."

"Fiiiiine," Julie drug the word out far longer than its four letters justified. "I'll see you in the morning then, grumpy."

She left him with a kiss on the lips before padding her way back across the house. Tim rolled back over, but in the dark there was a small smile playing at his lips.


	27. Gentle

_Gentle_

* * *

Though she was sure nobody else in Dillon would share her sentiment, Julie found Tim to be gentle.

It was in the way he would sometimes lift their clasped hands to his mouth, lightly kissing her fingertips. It was in the way he would twirl a strand of her long hair around his finger when he wanted her attention.

She felt it in the loving way his hands roamed over her bare skin.

It was in the soft smiles and small waves he would send her way when he caught her eye during games. In those moments, two sides of Tim were so beautifully juxtaposed: the boy she knew and the violent force he could be on the field.

Julie saw it in the way Tim would cut or mash Gracie Bell's food during dinner, when both of her parents would get lost in some discussion, as they were prone to do. When Julie was younger, she thought Tami and Eric's excited way of talking was fighting; now she saw how perfectly fitted her parents were.

This hidden side of Tim peeked out when he was with Jason and the way he insisted on pushing his wheelchair. Not because Tim didn't think Jason couldn't get around by himself, but because Tim knew it tired Jason out still to push the wheels constantly.

And she definitely saw the gentleness in him on the day they took a country walk on a lazy Saturday. Julie liked to walk the country lanes because the wildflowers were still blooming. She would pick bouquets of them, filling the cab of Tim's truck with their sweet smell. Sometimes Tim would take a bloom or to and stick it into Julie's hair.

On this particular Saturday, Julie dropped the flowers she was carrying and grabbed Tim's arm.

"Look! Tim, look!" She said in an excited, but hushed, voice. Julie pulled on his arm and pointed to something small and gray-blue laying in the grass.

It was a tiny kitten, and when it lolled its head toward them, both of them could see that its eyes were crusted over with gunk. When the kitten opened its mouth to hiss, only the most pitiful of raspy sounds escaped. But it didn't move.

Tim knew Julie wouldn't leave it there. She would insist on trying to save it.

"There's some rags in the tool box if you wanna grab one," Tim told Julie, passing her the keys to the truck. Julie ran back to his truck while Tim kneeled down beside the little kitten.

When he stuck a finger out to stroke its fur, he could feel how hot it was under the sun. The flowers surrounding it didn't give off much shade. While Tim sat with the tiny animal, he noticed that one of its back legs was twisted and smaller than it should have been, even for how tiny the kitten was.

It wasn't hard to guess how this kitten had come to be alone. The mother cat must have abandoned it.

"Here. Be careful with it," Julie told Tim, having returned with a soft, worn rag to wrap the kitten in. Despite its silent protests of hisses and trying to bite Tim's hand with its baby fangs, Tim lifted the kitten and placed it in Julie's waiting hands.

In the truck, Julie used another rag dipped in a bottle of water to try to hydrate the little thing while Tim drove back into town.

"Do you wanna take it home or take it to the vet?" Tim kept sending worried glances Julie's way. He wouldn't have told her, but he was terrified it was going to die while Julie was holding it. With its panting breaths and swollen belly, the kitten didn't look good at all.

"The feed store," Julie decided after a beat. "They'll usually tell you what you need to do for an animal, and sell you the supplies, without making you pay for a vet visit."

Tim had never been in the feed store before, but he knew from Coach's teasing stories about Julie thinking she needed to save every wounded animal she came across, tame or not, that she was probably right. So he turned left at the Alamo Freeze and pulled into the parking lot of the feed store.

They had to pool together what cash they each had on hand to pay for the eye drops and kitten formula the older lady behind the counter had advised they use. Julie had shown her the kitten, and the older lady had shook her head.

Using a syringe, Julie fed the kitten some formula right on the counter of the shop while the older woman watched and made sure she was doing it right. The kitten ate hungrily, gulping it down faster than Julie could give the formula to it.

"It's gonna be a longshot if I'm being honest, honey," she had told Julie while counting out change for them. "But if anyone's got a shot of saving it, you do."

Obviously the two were not strangers. The lady also advised they keep using a syringe to feed the kitten, to wash it with a warm rag, and to let it lay on a heating blanket or among stuffed animals.

"It's gotta think it still has a momma and litter. No matter how good you are about feeding it and washing it, if the little thing gets depressed, it won't have a chance. I'm not sure about that leg, though."

Despite the bleak words, Julie turned to Tim as they walked across the parking lot and smiled. He tried to smile back and leaned down to kiss her.

"Mom and Dad are gonna be pissed," Julie said, snuggling the kitten to her chest. It looked like it was asleep, or at least Tim hoped it was. "We'll have to hide it from Gracie Bell."

Gracie Bell was much more mobile those days. Plus she had developed a penchant for getting into anything and everything she could get her hands on.

"That won't be hard, if you keep it in your room." After a bad run-in with Julie's lotions and makeup, Gracie Bell had been banned from her older sister's bedroom.

The whole drive home, Tim glanced down at the kitten sleeping in Julie's lap.

 _Damn thing better be sleeping, anyway,_ Tim thought. He couldn't stand the thought of how much Julie would cry if it died.

He let Julie lead the way inside the house, the tiny kitten snuggled against her chest. He heard Coach's voice before he even got a foot in the door.

"Julie, what is that in your hands? Do not tell me you have another patient."

"Daaaad," Tim could hear the eye roll in her voice. "It was abandoned! It would have died!"

Julie pulled the rag away to reveal the tiny kitten to her father. There was a look of affectionate annoyance on his voice as he waved his oldest daughter off.

"I'll find a box for you," he grumbled. "You know where the old blankets are."

"I need the heating pad, too!" Julie called after him. Tim could hear Coach grumbling more, even though he couldn't make out the words.

Within ten minutes of having the kitten at home, Julie had written out a feeding schedule for the kitten. Tim had been tasked with holding the kitten while Julie worked to get everything set for the kitten.

Tim laid on the Taylors' couch, with the kitten curled up on his chest, one hand resting over it. With the little thing so close to him, he could feel its breaths and fast little heartbeat. Sometimes it twitched in its sleep.

Julie was taking so long that Tim felt himself growing sleepy. Maybe it was the smooth rhythm of the kitten's breaths underneath his hand that lulled himself to sleep. Whatever it was, soon he and the kitten were in the same boat: asleep on the couch, waiting for Julie.

When Julie finally came back to retrieve the kitten, the sight before her brought a huge smile to her face. The kitten looked perfectly content to be snoozing there, cuddled against Tim's chest.

Carefully, she lifted Tim's hand and picked the kitten up off of his chest. Julie didn't want to wake up either one.

"You're a big softie, Tim Riggins," she whispered before taking the kitten to her bedroom.


	28. Tigers and Raiders

**_Tigers and Raiders_**

* * *

The kitten grew quickly under Julie's care. As it got bigger, stripes appeared on its fur and its eyes opened to reveal themselves to be blue. Tim wasn't going to ask _how_ Julie knew, but Julie declared it to be a boy and named the kitten Tiger, after its stripes.

Tiger liked exactly two people: Julie and Tim. He hissed at Eric and Tami and only tolerated Gracie Bell's pats when sitting in Julie's lap. Despite his deformed back leg, he had become a quick runner to dodge Gracie Bell's little hands.

Much to Tim's annoyance, Tiger liked to spend a good chunk of his time sprawled across Tim's shoulders. When Tiger was with either Tim or Julie, he purred as loudly as a motorboat.

"He knows we're the ones who saved him," Julie told Tim one day after school while he was trying his best to ignore the tiny kitten crawling around his shoulders and batting at his hair.

"I bet he'd still eat your face," Tim grumbled. Though he claimed to not like the cat, he did. It made him feel good that Tiger had chosen to like him, especially when the little guy lived in a house full of people Tim considered much better than himself.

"He would never eat anyone's face," Julie retorted, scooping Tiger off of Tim's shoulders and cuddling the kitten close to her cheek.

* * *

Eric called Tim out of his Spanish class, also known as the only class he shared with Julie, on a cloudy Thursday. There weren't many games left in Tim's senior year of playing with the Dillon Panthers, and Eric had an important question to ask his teenage charge.

"What's up, Coach?" Tim asked as he walked into the office, setting hi backpack on the ground. Eric motioned for Tim to sit in the chair in front of his desk, so Tim let his weight fall into it.

"How do you feel about Lubbock, Tim?" Eric asked. He watched as Tim's face scrunched itself in confusion.

"Why, you plannin' on taking vacation?"

That made Eric laugh. He knew how persistent his daughter had been in trying to talk Tim into thinking college was for him. Eric was surprised Tim didn't make a connection.

Tim watched Coach guardedly while a wide smile spread over his face.

"I'm not. You might be. A four-year vacation, if you want it."

Tim still looked confused at Coach reached into a drawer and pulled out a red-and-black folder. Only when he saw the Texas Tech University mascot, the Red Raider, on the front of the folder did Tim put two and two together.

"Man, first Julie and now you."

"Yeah, but I bet Julie was just bugging you about it, wasn't she? She better have been, because I told her to. But I actually have something to offer you."

Eric pushed the folder across the table. Tim only stared at it for several long moments.

"So what's the offer?" Tim asked, though he still wouldn't touch the folder.

"A full ride, so long as you can keep your grades up enough, which even Tami thinks you can after what you've shown this semester."

The calm look on Tim's face didn't betray the fact that his heart was racing in his chest in the least bit.

"I thought Smash was the only one colleges were looking at."

"I kept it out of the papers. I didn't want them to make a big fuss over it and people to try to pressure you into anything. Other than Julie, that is." Eric added the last bit when Tim looked up from the folder and raised his eyebrows.

"You don't have to make a decision today," Eric told Tim. "I just wanted you to know the offer is there. But you should make it soon. Spots on the Texas Tech football team tend to fill up quickly. Take the folder with you. Think it over."

Numbly, Tim slid the folder toward himself and tucked it away into their backpack. He was shocked that this was something being offered to _him_ , Tim Riggins.

"…Why?" Tim asked Coach after a long beat of staring at his backpack. "Why would they want me?"

"You've always been a good player. And your grades this year show that you have potential, academically. They would be stupid to _not_ want you."

Tim shrugged. He didn't think Coach, or the Texas Tech scout, or Julie, were right. But if they all wanted to be delusional, that was up to them.

He wanted to leave the school immediately and head to Street's house. He knew both Coach and Julie would just tell him to do it, to sign the papers. But Street, he thought, would give him a better answer.

Tim couldn't leave school, though. He had practice after school, and he had already agreed to quiz Julie during lunch for the science quiz she would have that afternoon. So instead, Tim slung his backpack over his shoulder and slowly made his way back to class.

Suddenly his backpack felt much heavier than it had just fifteen minutes ago.

* * *

"Do it." Street said before Tim had even opened his mouth. He hadn't needed to. As soon as he pulled the folder out of his backpack, Street knew what it was. Of course he did. It had been his dream to be signed to a college team before the accident.

"But…" Tim tried to argue, but Street wouldn't let him.

"No, no buts. _Do it_." Street made a point to meet Tim's eyes. "I know you. I know you don't think you deserve it, but if you didn't it, no one would have offered it to you."

"You really think—" Tim tried to start again, but Street cut him off for the second time.

"I don't think. I know. Sign the damn thing, Riggins."


	29. Proud

**_Proud_**

* * *

"Jules," Tim said. He was laying in the floor of the Taylor's living room, playing a game that Tiger loved. The game involved Tim moving his hand across the carpet with his fingers bent and wild, to resemble a spider. Most of the time, Tim's hands were cut up from Tiger's sharp kitten teeth and claws, but he didn't mind since it made the tiny cat happy.

Julie looked up from the book she was reading. She was _always_ reading. Tim didn't know how she could stand to stare at words all the time.

"Do you like red?" Tim sucked his breath in when Tiger pounced on his hand, little fangs breaking the skin. He glanced up in time to see Julie shrug.

"Yeah, I guess," Julie said, confusion obvious in her voice. "I never much thought about it."

Tim nodded and dislodged the cat from his hand. He rolled Tiger onto his back, and began to rub his belly. This elicited a loud, motorboat-like purr from the cat.

Coach complained that you always knew where Tiger was because he could never seem to stop purring that 'loud-ass purr'.

Tim was quiet for a little while. He picked Tiger up and rolled himself onto his back, letting the cat snuggle against him under his chin. Tiger's fast purr, it seemed, matched the speed of Tim's heart.

He had been trying to break the Texas Tech news to Julie for a week now. Every time he thought he could get the words out of his mouth, though, they would never come out. Tim knew she would gloat, because she had been in on it from the beginning with Coach.

But he was also so incredibly nervous, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"What about black?" Tim asked, tilting his head back so he could see Julie. This made her upside down, and he watched as she flicked to the next page of her book.

"Black's good, too. What's with all the questions about colors?"

Tim had decided that it would be best to tell Julie when they were alone. And every Thursday, they were alone for a while after school, thanks to Coach's after school duty and Tami's weekly Mommy and Me class with Gracie Bell.

"How do you feel about wearing red and black together?"

"You trying to impress someone or something? Got a hot date?" Julie teased, a smile spreading across her face. "Seriously, Tim. What's with all the questions?"

"You're askin' a lot of questions yourself, Jules." Tim tried to divert the attention, but Julie wasn't having any of it.

"Just tell me what it's about."

Now it really felt like Tim's heart had worked its way into his throat. So instead Tim asked another question.

"Have you ever been to Lubbock?"

Julie's answer came in the form of a throw pillow hitting him softly in the face.

" _Timothy_."

"Okay, okay, woman. Damn." Tim took a deep breath and then mumbled, "I was offered a scholarship."

"What'd you say? I can't hear you when you insist on talking out of the side of your mouth like that." Tim rolled his eyes before settling them on her. Sometimes Julie could nag him like a damn mother, not a girlfriend.

"I _said…_ " Tim started, but stopped short when he noticed the smirk and bright twinkle in Julie's eye. And suddenly Julie was in the floor with him, having moved a disgruntled Tiger in order to take his place.

She placed a kiss first on one cheek and then the other before kissing him on the mouth.

"I heard you the first time," Julie admitted. "I just wanted to hear you say it louder before I said this: I told you so!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tim mumbled, trying to ignore the blush he felt overtake his cheeks. "It's nothin'."

"It's _everything_ ," Julie insisted, kissing him again. This time the kiss was long and slow and when she ended it, Julie tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

"I'm proud of you," she whispered against his skin.

Tim was certain that was the first time in his life anyone had said those words to him.


	30. Billy, Revisited

_**Billy, Revisited**_

* * *

To be honest, Tim had forgotten there was ever a time in his life that he woke up with his head pounding and his throat drier than a desert due to a hangover. Or with Tyra curled up next to him in bed. Or to Billy flipping his mattress, which was the only way his brother was able to get Tim to leave his blankets on some days.

The warmth of Tiger's body spread across his own was what Tim woke to on most days, now. Or to Gracie Bell's laughs. Or the smell of Mrs. Coach's cooking. Or, sometimes, when Julie was the first in the house to wake up, Tim would wake to her lips on his forehead, his eyelids, his nose, his cheeks, his own mouth.

He was entirely accustomed to his new life, and he couldn't say he missed the old one much.

Except for Billy. Despite all of it, Tim missed his brother.

Only Julie knew that, though.

"You don't think it's dumb? I mean, he did kick me out." Tim was sitting on Julie's bed, picking at his thumbnail. Julie's bedroom door was wide open, as was the condition when Tim was in there.

"No, he's still your brother. He took care of you for a long time," Julie said from the floor. She was sitting in front of her full length mirror, braiding her hair. Tim thought it was kind of funny, but Julie had actually become friends with Tyra during the Friday night football games. Julie was getting ready to go out with Tyra.

"I feel like I should tell him. About Tech, I mean."

"To rub it in?" Julie asked. Tim shook his head, and Julie saw his answer in the mirror's reflection.

"No, he wanted this. He was pushin' me to do better before he kicked me out." Tim knew he had finally gone too far, pushed Billy too much. He knew it was his own fault he got kicked out. Coach and Julie didn't see it that way, but Tim sure did.

"Well, you know where he lives, if you wanna see him." Julie had a point. Tim also knew that she was taking a dig at Billy. Everyone knew where everyone else lived in Dillon, yet Tim couldn't say when he had last seen or talked to his brother.

Julie left with Tyra, and Tim returned to his room, Tiger in tow. He laid on his bed, Tiger purring on his chest, and thought long and hard about it all. Football season was almost over. There was only one game left. After that, it would only be a handful of months until Tim graduated. And then only a month and a half before he had to move to Lubbock and start training and conditioning as a Red Raider.

"You know what," he mumbled to the cat. "I'll see you later, little man."

Tim placed Tiger on his bed, but the cat didn't wake up once. While the cat curled himself into Tim's blankets, Tim grabbed his truck keys and made his way to the door.

"Where you going?" Coach asked as Tim went through the living room. Tim hadn't even noticed him until he spoke, and it made Tim jump a little.

"Uh, Smash's house. I won't be out long." Coach nodded before going back to his playbook.

Tim wasn't sure why he lied. He wasn't even sure he had the balls to go to Billy. He even drives by Smash's house, because that's how unsure he is.

He drove by, though. He wasn't really sure how, but he did. And he made a few turns, and there he was. The place he had called home for so long, but felt like a foreign place now.

Tim's feet seemed to move by themselves, taking him to the front door. The lights were on inside, and he could hear the TV, but he knew that didn't necessarily mean Billy was home. Even though he usually blamed Tim for it, _Billy_ was the one who had bad habits when it came to electricity.

At the door, Tim stopped short. He had almost just opened it and walked in, but then he remembered he couldn't do that. So instead he closed his hand into a fist and knocked. He had to knock three times to be heard over the TV.

When Billy appeared at the door, it was with a beer in his hand and a confused look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Billy asked, his words thick from his beer. Tim had brought his scholarship envelope with him, to show his brother.

"I just wanted to show you something," Tim said, holding out the envelope. Billy had to open the door, as he hadn't until Tim held out the envelope. When he opened the door, he didn't move or invite Tim in. But he did take the envelope.

Tim stuck his hands in his pockets and waited for Billy to open the envelope. Billy had to put the beer in the crook of his elbow while he worked the papers out.

"What's this?" Billy's eyebrows knit together as his eyes flew over the words. "Texas Tech, huh?"

"Yeah, man," Tim said, looking down at his feet. "Wild, huh?"

"How'd you manage that?"

Tim could only reply with a shrug. He hadn't done anything. It was the Taylors who had changed his life.

"So you're gonna do it, right? I mean, even you aren't that much of a dumbass, I don't think."

"I already signed it," Tim told him. "Last week."

Since he was still looking at his shoes, Tim didn't see Billy move forward. He had no idea the hug was coming until his brother's arms were around him. And even though Billy didn't say anything else about the offer, Tim knew what he meant by the hug.

"You want a beer?" Billy asked instead, making his little brother smile.

"Don't make fun of me, though. I haven't had one in a while."

"That Taylor girl have your balls, or what? Tim Riggins _not_ drinking is almost unheard of."

"Jules ain't a hard-ass, man. Her name's not Lyla Garrity."

Tim was surprised how happy he felt to make his brother laugh.


	31. Their Boy

**_Their Boy_**

* * *

"I hate these banquets," Tim muttered, looking through his closet for his limited dress shirts. At the moment, all he was wearing was his jeans and the beat-up cowboy boots he always wore when he wasn't wearing football cleats.

Julie was already dressed in a sweater and skirt, her hair curled around her face. She was sitting on Tim's bed, watching the muscles in his back while he searched.

"I thought you liked anything with free food," Julie teased him. Her parents had already left, having been taxed with the job of setting up the banquet.

"Coach is gonna make a big deal, though." Tim still wouldn't even say that he was going to Texas Tech in the fall to play college football. Anytime one of the Taylors or Jason brought it up, he blushed a deep red.

"You deserve to have a big deal made about you, though," Julie told him. Tim pulled on a light blue shirt and started doing up the buttons. "You've worked hard this year."

"All I did was play football and do my homework," Tim grumbled. Julie couldn't help but smile at him.

"And look where that got you! You're smarter and more talented than you give yourself credit for, Tim Riggins."

Amused, she watched as that blush crept into his cheeks. "Nobody likes a kiss-ass, Jules."

Julie rolled her eyes and stood up, brushing the cat hair away from her skirt. Tiger left his fur everywhere, especially Tim's bed, which was his favorite place to sleep. In fact, the cat was there now, curled on Tim's pillow and purring happily in his sleep.

"You know you like me," Julie said, straightening out Tim's collar for him. "At least a little bit. I mean, we even match right now."

Julie's skirt was the same shade of light blue as the shirt Tim had absentmindedly pulled from his closet.

" _Maybe_ a little bit. Are you ready to get this over with?"

"If you meant to say, are you ready to watch your boyfriend get all the honor and attention he deserves, then yes."

Now it was Tim's turn to roll his eyes as Julie stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

* * *

Julie sat beside Tim at a table with Smash and Jason, who had made a special appearance despite the ice and snow outside for Tim. It was rare that it ever snowed in Dillon, but when it did, it liked to dump a whole month's worth at once.

Jason had good-heartedly threatened Tim with having to pay if the weather ruined his wheels.

Sitting as close to Tim as she was, Julie could feel him bouncing his leg underneath the table. She rested her hand on Tim's knee and gave him a smile she hoped would calm him down. He slipped his hand over her own and squeezed it.

"You'll survive," Jason whispered to Tim. He was just as attuned to Tim's mood as Julie was. "Just don't trip."

"Easy for you to say," Tim replied with a smirk, making Jason laugh. That was something Jason loved about Tim. Even considering their fall out when Jason was first injured, nothing had changed between them in the end, and Tim would say things to Jason that no one else dared to because they thought it would be taboo.

Maybe it was his nerves, or the shot of whiskey he had taken in the parking lot—Jason had snuck a flask with him, for 'celebration purposes', and he, Tim, and Smash had all had some—but something made Tim lean over closer to Jason.

"This is supposed to be you, man," he whispered to his best friend.

"Yeah, well, it can't be. Not now. So you'll have to do it for me. And if you blow it, I'll kick your ass."

"Okay," Tim agreed. "Only if you go to Special Olympics basketball for me. I don't think they would take too kindly to a guy with working legs joining the team."

"You two are being bad," Julie scolded them. "Pay attention. Dad's almost done with the juniors, which means seniors with scholarships are next."

If Tim wasn't nervous before, he was now. He could already feel eyes on him.

Lyla's, but Tim figured that had more to do with Jason's being there than anything.

Matt's, because he was always sneaking looks at Tim and Julie even after all those months.

Billy's, because despite their fallout before, he couldn't help but play the role of proud big brother and attend.

And Tyra's, because she was not stupid and had already pieced together that something must be going on with Tim for Billy and Jason to both be there.

Once Coach said his name, the whole room would be looking at him. Tim wasn't sure he could handle that.

Tim had zoned out for long enough that he didn't even realize that Coach had gone out of order and called Smash up before Tim. He had intentionally saved Tim for last, probably because he knew how shocked everyone was going to be.

Julie's elbow in his ribs brought Tim out of his thoughts.

" _Jules_ ," he grumbled, but his girlfriend motioned with her head towards the stage.

"Pay attention."

Coach had already moved on from everyone else. Tim looked up at him and tried to tune in.

"This last senior being honored may surprise you. He's certainly surprised me over the last year, not least of all because he somehow convinced my daughter to date him." Here, Coach paused while the crowd laughed. Julie smiled at Tim, giving his hand another squeeze.

Coach's joke gave Tim away instantly.

"Now, I know I'm embarrassing him right now. But I also feed him every day, so I feel like this is a fair exchange. Even though I'm giving him a hard time right now, I can't tell y'all how proud I am of him. Believe it or not, come fall, Tim Riggins will be attending Texas Tech University with a full-ride scholarship."

Each senior was supposed to take their place on the stage Eric stood on. At the same time, Julie and Jason pushed at Tim to get to his feet and walk to take his spot. Tim ducked his head as he walked, even though Julie could _just_ barely see a peek of a smile on his lips.

Julie clapped so hard her hands stung. A seat away from her, Jason yelled a 'Go Timmy!' that cut through the thunder of clapping in the room. Tim gave them both a big, if bashful, smile.

"Look at our boy, Julie Taylor!" Jason shouted, his excitement for his friend obvious on his face. "They just grow up too fast!"

Julie wondered how her cheeks didn't crack from how hard she was smiling, watching Tim up on that stage.

She was certain he had never looked happier—or more embarrassed.


	32. Caleb

**_Caleb_**

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Tim always found Julie after her last class, so they could head to his truck. Now that football and dance were done for both of them for the school year, neither of them had a reason to hang around Dillon High after the final school bell.

"It's for class," Julie told Tim, cradling the blue water balloon carefully in her hands. The balloon had a baby's sock for a hat and a permanent marker-drawn face. "We have to take care of it for two weeks."

"You have to take care of a _water balloon_?" Tim was shaking his head. "What's that supposed to teach you?"

"Not to get pregnant in high school, apparently. Landry's my husband for this project. Every two days we have to switch and take turns with it. And at school, if it's my day, I have to carry it around school."

Tim scooped the water balloon from Julie's hands and tossed it lightly in the air. It made Julie shriek and then glare at the laughing boy beside her.

"Timothy, if you pop Caleb—" Julie didn't get a chance to finish, because the beginning of her sentence had sent Tim into a laughing fit.

"You named the water balloon, Jules?" Her face was burning with a blush, but Julie tilted her chin up stubbornly.

"It was part of the assignment. And if you pop him, I'm going to fail, so please don't."

Tim tossed Caleb the water balloon one more time just to irritate his girlfriend before handing it back to her.

But while Tim was busy playing, he caught the attention of someone else. Someone who felt the need to comment on Tim's antics, even though he didn't leave his place at his locker.

"That's Landry's grade you're throwing in the air," Matt called out to them, annoyance evident in his voice. It was just a petty comment, but for some reason, it made Tim mad.

"Yeah, and Julie's grade, too. You really think I'd make her fail?" Tim snapped back at Matt. He made a point of gently passing the water balloon back to Julie.

Julie was surprised that Tim called her by her full name instead of Jules. He had always called her that—even before they had started dating, when he had just moved in with the Taylors.

"I'm just saying, man," Matt replied moodily. He glared at Tim and then turned back to his locker.

Tim kind of wanted to hit the locker door so that it would slam on Matt's head. But he didn't, mostly because Julie had tugged on his arm.

"Let it go," she whispered to him. "It's not worth it."

Now _that_ surprised Tim, because he knew Julie to be one to never back down from any kind of confrontation. That was something he liked about her. Julie was giving him a serious, pointed look though, so he did what she asked.

Even though his palms were practically itching to hit that locker, instead Tim turned back to Julie.

"You should be more worried about Gracie Bell and Tiger popping this thing than me," Tim pointed out, switching gears seamlessly. It earned him a grateful smile from Julie. "You'll be lucky if the little guy survives the weekend."

"And _that_ is the reason Gracie Bell is definitely not going to be told about Caleb. Tiger's sleeping with you all weekend, by the way."

As they walked away, Tim could still feel Matt's eyes on his back. Just because he couldn't resist, he wrapped an arm around Julie's waist. Tim pulled her close to him and placed a kiss on her head. He turned his head just a little, so that he could see Matt behind them.

Julie had told him to let it go, but Tim just couldn't stop the smug smile that spread across his face. The smile grew smugger as Matt's face turned red.

Then he looked forward quickly, because if Julie had known what had gone on between the two, she would be pissed. Tim got plenty of lectures from Julie as it was, he didn't need another one of her scoldings.

He was well aware that she was a person and not a prize—a point Julie often brought up when Tim got a little _too_ emphatic about having 'beat' Matt because he was dating Julie—but sometimes he just couldn't help it. Tim had Julie, which was a fact of life he had never expected for himself.

Really, he thought he had every right to gloat about that fact alone.


	33. Mother Dearest

**_Mother Dearest_**

* * *

"Hey, Tim?" Julie said softly. The two were wrapped in a shared blanket to hold off the February evening chill, sitting on the bed of Tim's truck, watching a sunset together. She liked watching sunsets with Tim, and something about the sunsets always made her whisper. "What happened with your mom?"

Sometimes Tim forgot that Julie hadn't always lived in Dillon. She was such a big part of his life _now_ that he could hardly remember a time when his days weren't consumed with her.

But she hadn't always been there with him, and sometimes she didn't know things that literally everyone else in Dillon knew. Like what ever did happen to Tim and Billy Riggins' mom.

Tim took a few seconds to reply, and that short time was enough for Julie to second-guess herself. Her cheeks burned as red as the sky before them as she started tripping over her words.

"I'm s-sorry," she stammered out. "You don't have to answer that. I really shouldn't've asked."

"Oh, you're okay, Jules." Tim couldn't hide his smile watching her squirm. "You coulda asked anyone in this town that question and they'd tell you, y'know."

"I wouldn't wanna hear it from someone else, though. That's for you to say, not someone else."

Tim shrugged. Everyone in Dillon thought they knew the story. He had heard it in many different forms his whole life, and none of them had come from himself or Billy.

"I dunno, Jules. People get bored sometimes. That's all that happened, really. She got bored."

It happened when Tim was eight years old. One day he came home from playing with Jason, and the house was empty when it shouldn't have been.

"We used to live on Peach Tree Drive, like three houses down from Street. I would ride my bike to his house and then we would go all over town. Billy was always off doin' I don't know what—I think he was already golfin' or some shit by then. He was thirteen and I was eight."

Julie scooted herself closer to Tim and his warmth. With the sun gone from the horizon, the temperature was dropping further. Tim pulled Julie onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her, pulling the blanket tighter around the both of them.

"I came back home from hangin' with Street, and no one was there. I knew my dad was still at work, and Billy was off doin' whatever Billy did. But my mom, she should've been there. I even asked her that morning, 'Do I need to take my house key?', and she said no, that she would be home when I got home."

Julie felt Tim shrug again.

"She left the door unlocked for me, at least. But she didn't leave anything else. No note, no phone calls, nothin'. Best me and Billy could ever figure it out is that she got bored. Then dad started drinking all the time, and we did too. Somehow Billy still got that golf scholarship for college, but then dad left and that didn't matter. By then I was thirteen and Billy was eighteen and there was no one else to watch me, so there we were."

Julie couldn't count on one hand how many times she was annoyed or frustrated with her parents. Sometimes, especially when she was younger, she had wished she had different parents.

Hearing Tim's story sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cold weather. Tim misunderstood it for cold, though, hugging Julie closer to him.

Suddenly Julie was very thankful for the parents she had always considered too protective, overbearing, and over-involved.

"Do you ever miss her?" Julie asked in a whisper. She felt Tim shake his head before she heard his answer.

"I don't figure there's any reason to miss someone who didn't want you."

Julie wasn't even sure how to respond to something like that. So instead, she slipped her hands into Tim's and laced their fingers together. Just for good measure, she gave them a squeeze.

"You wanna go get ice cream?" Julie asked. She desperately wanted to change the subject. Tim's story had made her terribly sad—and she knew she had no right to be. If anyone here should be sad, it should be Tim.

Instead, she felt the rumble of Tim's laugh against her back. "It's like, twelve degrees out here, Jules. Yeah. Let's go get ice cream. C'mon."

In the cab of the truck, with the wheezy old heater warming her through, Julie stole glances at Tim while he navigated his way to the Tasty Freeze.

She wondered, just a little bit, who he would have been if his mother had stayed.

Then she decided that didn't matter, because she liked Tim exactly the way he was. Besides, if she hadn't left, Tim probably wouldn't have come to live with the Taylors. And if Tim never came to live with the Taylors, who's to say he would have ever paid any attention to little Julie Taylor?

In the neon glow of the Tasty Freeze parking lot, Julie watched Tim lick a little river of chocolate ice cream racing towards his hand and smiled.

It wasn't until that night that Julie knew you could simultaneously despise and be thankful to a person.


	34. Senior Skip

**_Senior Skip_**

* * *

On a bright and balmy morning in early May, Tim didn't take the turn to the high school like he usually did.

"Um…" Julie said, but Tim turned to her with a wide, bright smile.

"We're not going to school, Jules."

Julie looked at Tim, her eyes wide in surprise. She had skipped school with Tim once before, but she had always considered it a one-off kind of thing.

"It's senior skip day," Tim explained to her. He was very obviously amused by Julie's face.

"I'm not a senior, Tim," Julie reminded him.

"Well, neither is Street, but we're gonna go get him, too."

Julie felt her stomach do a flip. Last time she had skipped with Tim, she knew they were lucky not to have been caught. Both of her parents work in the school, after al. A senior skip day was much bigger than just her and Tim skipping on their own.

"My parents will find out," Julie tried to argue as they turn onto Jason's street.

"Coach doesn't care, for one thing, because football season is over. Plus we planned it for today on purpose, because your mom, the _only_ person at Dillon High who would care if all the seniors plus a junior and a quadriplegic former student all went to a lake for the day, is at that training thing in Dallas."

"Can Jason even go to a lake?" Julie tried to ask through her rolled down window, even as Tim was running up the walkway to Jason's house.

"He'll be golden! We already worked it out!"

She watched while Tim first wheeled Jason to the truck, and listened to them argue. Julie scooted over on the truck's bench seat, so that she would be sitting in the middle and there would be room for Jason.

"You're becoming a fat ass, Street," Tim muttered as he lifted Jason into the truck beside Julie.

"It's almost like I have half a body that I can't use anymore." Jason rolled his eyes dramatically before turning to Julie.

"Hi, Julie Taylor. You do not look like someone who is excited to have a day off of school."

Julie shrugged and tried to smile at Jason. She hadn't seen him since the football banquet. There, she didn't talk to him much—the fact that he was Tim's best friend kind of intimidated her for some reason. Now she was going to have a whole day with both of them.

"It was sprung on me," she said with a shrug. "I'm still getting used to it."

"Jules is a goody two-shoes," Tim told Jason. He had tossed the wheelchair into the bed of the truck before climbing into the cab with his best friend and girlfriend.

"We'll get her corrupted by the end of the day," Jason said with a smirk, letting his arm hang out of the open window.

Julie cut her eyes at Tim, a stubborn look coming over her face. "I am _not_ a goody two-shoes."

Tim smiled brightly at her. He was trying to bait her, and it worked. Despite the fact that she was a little annoyed with his tease, the sparkle in Tim's hazel eyes made Julie smile back at him.

With wisps of her long blonde hair flying all around the cab of the truck, Tim leaned over and kissed Julie on the cheek.

* * *

Tim had planned this more than Julie originally realized. Once at the lake destination, about an hour outside of Dillon, he revealed a bag he had put under the seats. Inside was Julie's swimsuit, a pair of swim trunks for Tim, sunblock, extra clothes…basically, anything Tim thought Julie might need.

"Why didn't you just ask me if I wanted to go instead of going through all this trouble?" Julie rifled through the bag while Tim got Jason situated in his wheelchair.

"We knew you would say no," Tim said matter-of-factly.

"Because you said no to the celebration whiskey at the football banquet," Jason added.

"My parents were there!" Julie objected. "Besides, where am I supposed to change into this bathing suit? I don't exactly see a bathroom out here."

"There's trees. Just be glad that Street is already wearing his bathing suit under his clothes, because _that_ would have been a real issue."

Julie rolled her eyes. Tim might have been fine with changing in public behind a tree, but Julie wasn't brave enough. She changed into her bikini bottoms while still sitting in the truck, and then struggled out of her bra and into her bikini top while still wearing her t-shirt to cover herself.

By the time she had finished her struggle, Tim and Jason were already at the waterfront of the lake with the rest of Dillon High's senior class. Tim had made quick work of setting Jason up with a pool innertube, so he could float along on the lake water.

He gave Jason a strong push, so he could bob along the gentle waves of the lake.

"So what's the plans for the day?" Julie asked, taking a seat beside Tim on the lakeshore. The sand was warm on her legs. Jason waved to them, and Julie waved back.

"We're just here to hang out, Jules," Tim told her with an easy smile. "It's a senior skip day! The whole point is to be lazy."

"You gonna drink?" Julie asked, watching Smash and Matt help some other boys mix some alcohol and juice in a cooler filled with ice. Jungle juice.

"No," Tim told her. "Your parents would be pissed, I'm the one driving, and besides all that, I gotta make sure Street's good. But you can drink if you want to."

Julie hadn't considered that. From what she had seen, Jason was highly independent. And what he couldn't do for himself, Tim discreetly did it for him.

Tim watched Julie shake her head. "No thanks. I still remember that hangover."

"Good, you can be our resident life guard then. Let's go in the water, it's already hot out here."

It was. Tim had joked that Julie could change behind a tree, but there really wasn't a lot of shade to be had. Not to mention the unusually warm spring that part of Texas was having.

Tim led Julie onto a little outcropping of rocks, where they could jump into a deeper part of the lake.

"I'll race you to Jason," Julie told him.

"Alright," Tim agreed with a lazy smile. "On three."

Tim counted. He jumped on two instead of three, earning him a sharp ' _Timothy!_ ' from Julie. She jumped immediately after and swam fast to catch up with him.

"You're such a brat. I'm breaking up with you," she teased Tim once she caught up with him, purposely making her stroke harder than it needed to be so it would splash Tim in the face.

"Have fun walking home, then!" Tim teased back. Julie only swam faster. She was determined to beat him after that little cheating stunt of his.

Julie _just_ made it before Tim did, her hand slapping Jason's innertube mere seconds before Tim's did. The motion jostled Jason a little, and he turned to give the pair a joking glare.

"You know, if I capsize, I will drown. What are you idiots doing anyway?"

"I think you're forgetting Jules here is a lifeguard. I just might be able to convince her to save you if anything happens."

"Did I hear her call you 'Timothy'? I'm gonna have to start using that one."

Tim threatened Jason with death if he started using Julie's 'nickname' for him. Jason laughed, and honestly it kind of warmed Tim more than the sun did. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Jason so happy.

Really, Tim had to pat himself on the back. Bringing Jason and Julie to this senior skip day was probably the best idea he ever had.

* * *

By the time everyone packed up to head home, Tim's hair had been sun-bleached a lighter shade of brown, there was sand coating Jason's wheels, and Julie's freckles had darkened against her pink, slightly sunburned cheeks.

Inside the cab of the truck again, Jason fell asleep with his head resting against the window. Julie braided her hair, knowing she had no hope of her thick locks drying before they got home. Both she and Tim were too sleepy from soaking in the sun all day to talk much.

"This was the best day," Julie told him softly, so as not to wake Jason. She rested her head back against her seat, sure she would probably drift off like the boy to her right.

"And you didn't even want to come," Tim reminded her with a smug smirk.

"Just drive, _Timothy_." There was a soft smile on Julie's face as her eyelids fluttered shut.


	35. The One That I Want

**_The One That I Want_**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Hi, friends! I know I usually put these down at the bottom, but I wanted to make sure that everyone saw this one! I just want to give a shout out to GlibLittleActor and her Tulie story Rocky Road. If you have time, I think you should check it out! I have been beta reading it and LOVE it so far!

* * *

Julie used to watch old reruns of _Saved by the Bell_ with her mom on Saturday mornings, and if there was one thing that Julie found herself wishing for in her life, it was Zack Morris' ability to freeze time.

Sometimes a girl just needed everything to stop for a minute. Maybe she needs to freak out for a second. Or pause a class presentation so that she can peek at her notes. Or take a moment to get her excitement out.

Or so she can freeze time, walk away from her ex-boyfriend, and unfreeze it once she's far, far away.

Julie felt like she was having déjà vu. Hadn't she already done this before? Had an uncomfortable conversation with Matt at a house party?

This time, she wasn't drunk, though. And she was openly dating Tim now, but he had disappeared with Jason after someone had spilled their drink all over him. And Lois, Julie's dance friend, never wanted to go to the house parties. So here she was, alone, dealing with Matt.

"…are you even listening right now?" Matt slurred. He was drunk. Julie hadn't been listening, but she nodded her head innocently.

"Of course I'm listening. It's just loud in here is all." Somehow Julie had found herself in the corner, with Matt standing in front of her, his breath smelling of the beer in his hand.

"I mean, I just…" Matt had to take a moment here to stead himself against the wall. It seemed QB 1 had been drinking long before Smash's graduation party actually started.

Her parents had offered Tim a party, which he had vehemently denied. He never was one to have a big fuss made about him. He had told Eric that the football party he threw collectively for all of the graduating seniors was more than enough.

"I know we broke up, Julie, but that doesn't mean I don't still care about you as a person. I don't want you to get hurt, you know?" Julie really was having a hard time hearing Matt over the thumping beat of the music playing.

"I can look out for myself," Julie told him, crossing her arms across her chest. She was wearing a v-neck dress, and she saw Matt's eyes drift downward with the motion.

"I can make my own decisions," she continued, louder and harsher than before. That drew Matt's gaze back up to her face.

"I'm not saying you can't, Julie, I just mean, you know how Riggins is."

Julie rolled her eyes. She hoped Matt was able to see, despite the fact that the overhead lights were dimmed to bring out the effect of the strobe light Smash had brought out amongst cheers and applause. Alcohol made everything exciting.

"I do know how Tim _was_ ," Julie said, going out of her way to add emphasis to that final word. "But you don't know how he _is_. He's different now."

"Maybe for now, but do you really think he won't cheat on you once he's at Texas Tech? I mean, there's like a million hot girls there."

Julie took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, just like she had heard her mom tell Gracie Bell when the little girl was in the throws of a temper tantrum. It didn't take away her urge to knock the stupid beer bottle out of Matt's stupid hand.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see, huh?" Julie asked, making her way to push past Matt. As far as she was concerned, this conversation was over. Matt, apparently, didn't have the same idea, because he reached out and made a grab for her arm.

"It's just…is this really what you want? Riggins? I mean, we're all graduating in a few days, and then you'll be a senior. Life's gonna start. You really anna do it with _him_?"

Julie shot Matt a glare before looking across the room. Tim and Jason had reappeared. Tyra had her head thrown back in laughter as Tim showed her the trick he and Jason had learned—if Tim tipped the wheelchair just right, and Jason sat up as much as he was able to, they could make it balance perfectly so that Jason was floating in the air.

"You too have always been idiots," Julie heard Tyra say between her laughs. Jason raised his hand for a high five, knocking himself off balance so that Tim had to grab the wheelchair before it tipped. This made both of the boys laugh uncontrollably.

Both of them had had a little to drink. Tim had given Julie his truck keys at the beginning of the night, trusting her rookie driving skills to get them all home safe after the party.

Tim's cheeks were red from booze and laughing and his eyes were shining when he caught sight of Julie in the crowd. She guessed he didn't notice her company, because he smiled brightly at her and tipsily blew her a kiss.

She smiled and blew one back to Tim before turning to Matt.

"Yup," Julie told him, deciding she agreed with Tyra that Tim and Jason were idiots. Tim had grabbed hold of the handles on Jason's wheelchair and had begun to spin him, trying to get him to go as fast as possible. Jason was cheering Tim on.

But Tim was her idiot, and she was happy to have him.

"He's _exactly_ what I want," Julie told Matt, pushing past him more forcefully this time.

She left Matt behind her as she made her way through the crowd separating her from Tim. Everyone around him and Jason had backed away, to make room for their antics. Julie had to side-step away from the wheelchair, so that it's spinning wheels wouldn't catch her feet.

"See, Street, Jules didn't leave us!" Tim said, raising his red plastic cup in celebration and almost spilling his drink.

"Yes!" Jason cheered. "Julie Taylor comin' through!"

Julie wasn't quite sure what Jason meant with that, but she smiled and shook her head at the two friends. Then she wrapped her arms around Tim's neck and kissed him, not minding the taste of the beer on his mouth.

She didn't bother to check, but she hoped Matt was watching.


	36. The Scare

**_The Scare_**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Hi, friends! Just a reminder to check out GlibLittleActor and her Tulie story Rocky Road. If you have time, I think you should check it out! It's a good one! :)

* * *

Julie Taylor was not unaware of her boyfriend's sexual history. It was common knowledge to the whole town of Dillon. It wasn't anything that she gave much thought to, honestly.

Until a drunk Matt Saracen had put doubts in her head during Smash William's graduation party.

Tim had graduated high school quietly. He only walked in the ceremony at Julie and Tami's insistence. Even Billy had come to the ceremony. Billy cheered louder than Eric, Tami, Julie, and Jason combined when Tim walked across the stage.

Everything was so happy for Julie those last few days of school that she didn't even pay much mind to the things Matt had said to her.

But that changed once summer began. Julie found herself back in the lifeguard tower, with plenty of time to let her mind wander around. She felt like she went on autopilot. Sure, Julie made sure she turned her head and scanned the water to make sure everything was good. She waved to Gracie Bell when Tami brought her to the pool. She walked her rounds along the perimeter of the pool.

 _He's never cheated on me,_ Julie reminded herself. _Even Tyra has said Tim's a completely different person. He hasn't even_ talked _to a rally girl since we started dating._

Julie remembered that well. After the night she kissed Tim in her parent's backyard, he had stopped accepting any attention from rally girls. Julie remembered the way Smash had teased Tim, asking if he was sick, had amnesia, had a _good_ twin who had swapped places with him.

But despite her self-reassurance, she couldn't seem to forget what Matt had said. College, and college girls, would be a whole different ball game. What if Julie couldn't compete?

Julie was deep in these thoughts one day when Tim was at the pool. He was working on the farm again that summer, but he never worked Sundays. That was the Sabbath day—not that that meant anything to Tim. He couldn't tell you the last time he had attended church. But it meant something to his boss, and Tim took full advantage of his day of rest.

She was walking along the edge of the pool when she suddenly felt cold water splash against her bare skin. Julie was about to yell at whichever immature kid had done it when she looked down to see Tim's smiling face.

"We coulda been drowning!" Tim teased her. Julie hadn't even realized that Tim and Jason were at the pool.

"Yeah!" Jason agreed. "You're walking around like a sunstroke zombie."

Tim raised his eyebrows at her in a silent question. _Are you okay?_ his eyes seemed to say. Of course, Tim had noticed how absent-minded Julie had been lately—not just at work, but at home and when he took her out, too.

Julie put her hands on her hips and tossed her long braid. "As the senior lifeguard on shift, I'm making a new rule about splashing the people who save your lives."

"So, how are you gonna punish us?" Tim asked, a devilish sparkle coming into his eyes. Julie laughed and shook her head at her boyfriend.

"You're a mess." When she leaned down to kiss him, the end of her braid dipped into the pool and became soaked. Tim's eyes trailed after her as she walked away.

"You've got it so bad, man," Jason teased him. Tim slapped at the water, sending a shower over his best friend.

"Shut up, Street."

While Jason clearly saw it, Julie's vision had been clouded by her ex-boyfriend.

* * *

"Guns up, Gracie Bell." Tim was sitting on the living room floor with Julie's little sister. The three of them had been in the living room together for quite some time. Julie was working on her summer reading list for her upcoming senior year. Tim was watching recordings of Texas Tech's last football season.

Eric had made sure to record every single game once Tech had expressed interest in Tim, long before Tim had even made a decision. Tim was happy now that Coach had done that for him. He was comfortable playing fullback for the Panthers, but he might be in a completely new position playing for Tech.

Gracie Bell was there just because she liked to be wherever Tim or Julie was. If one of them were around, Tiger was much more likely to play with her. That's what the two had been doing, Gracie Bell trailing a piece of yarn behind her for Tiger to chase.

Julie glanced up from her book in time to see Gracie Bell give Tim a wide smile and lift her hand. The little girl's thumb and forefinger were pointed into the shape of a gun, the symbol Texas Tech Red Raiders fans used every time the team scored.

"Guns up!" Gracie Bell said back to Tim. She was obviously proud of herself, lifting her palm for Tim to give her a high five. Usually this scene would have made Julie smile.

But at that moment, it made her heart pang in her chest. She loved Tim. She knew that. The idea that he might not be in her life anymore made her heart break.

Julie hated Matt for putting this in her head, but she couldn't help herself.

Tim lifted his head and gave her a radiant smile. She tried to return it, but she wasn't sure she did a very good job.

* * *

For the life of him, as June turned into July, Tim still couldn't figure out what was bothering his girlfriend. He just doesn't understand the funk Julie seemed to be in.

It bothered him more than he would like to admit. And if he was being honest, he would have to say that it scared him, too. The Fourth of July was approaching, and Tim knew that the fireworks would give them plenty of privacy for him to talk to Julie.

That isn't to say that Tim was particularly excited to confront Julie about it all. He just knew he had to do it.

Just like the summer before, Tim drove Julie out to the farm so that they would have the best view of the fireworks. They filled the bed of Tim's truck with blankets and climbed in. As they waited for them to start, Julie curled herself around Tim, laying her head on his chest.

"Your heart's beating pretty fast," she told him, tipping her head up to look at him. When she did, the first firework popped in the sky. The green glow of it painted Tim's face in its light.

"Watch your fireworks, Jules," he told her, planting a kiss on her forehead. Tim knew how much she loved the fireworks. He didn't want her to miss them.

But that Julie Taylor of his could be stubborn, and it was coming out then. She kept her eyes on Tim even though he had turned his eyes to the sky. He could feel her staring at him, though, so he glanced down.

"Last time I checked, I'm not fireworks." Julie smirked at him.

"What's bothering you enough to make your heart beat like that?"

Tim tried to shrug and leave it at that, but Julie wasn't having any of it. She didn't speak again, but she kept her eyes on Tim's face. Julie knew she wouldn't even have to say anything, and that was confirmed when Tim sighed and looked back down at her.

She offered him a smile. Tim shook his head at her. "You could drive a man crazy, Jules, you know that?"

"I think you might have told me before."

"So, are you gonna tell me why you've been in a weird mood all summer?" Tim didn't know any other way to say it than to just say it outright. He watched smile slide right off of Julie's face to be replaced with a pout.

"Think I didn't notice?" Tim tried to tease her, but it didn't work. Julie sat up in the truck bed, fireworks going off right behind her head. She put a hand out to him, an offering. Tim put his hand in hers and let her pull him up.

"Tim, what are we gonna do when you go to college?" So _that's_ what had been eating at her.

"Well, I was hoping you might come to some of my home games," Tim admitted. "And I figured I would be back in Dillon for all of the school breaks."

"You don't want to break up?" Julie asked, her lower lip quivering. Tim had seen Julie cry a few times before, and every time it made him feel like he was going to throw up. He _hated_ seeing Julie cry, and he didn't want that to happen now.

"Julie Taylor," Tim said. He never used her full name, not unless he was being truly serious. "Why the hell would you think that?"

Tim ran his hand through his hair before opening his arms for Julie to come into. It was obvious from her face that these tears weren't going to stop. Julie moved into his lap as Tim's arms wrapped around her.

"Where is this coming from?" He asked her, his voice softer now.

"There's gonna be a lot of new girls at college," Julie told him. "And they'll be your age. Or older. What if you meet someone that is better than me? More fun or prettier or—"

Tim cut Julie off here. "Julie, I don't give a damn about any girl I could meet at college. I'm going there to play football and do homework and think about the _only_ girl I've ever cared about."

That actually made Julie laugh a little even though she was crying. "Really?"

"Where did all of this come from?" Tim asked. Julie was quiet for a moment. She was embarrassed to tell him.

"Well, at Smash's party, Matt told me—" Tim rolled his eyes and cut her off.

"Who cares what Seven said, Jules! He's an idiot. He's just jealous he was too stupid to hold on to you."

"You think so?" Julie asked. She was happy that he had switched to using her nickname again. She didn't really like when Tim called her by her full name.

"I know so," Tim told her. "Jules, I love you. Okay? Don't doubt that, and don't listen to idiots, because that's the truth."

Tim had never said those words to Julie. He had felt it for quite a while, but he hadn't had the courage to tell her. But now it had come out without Tim thinking about it, because Julie was crying, and he hated that, and he wanted it to stop.

It did not go unnoticed by Julie, though. She smiled, her face tucked close against his chest, and wrapped her arms around him. Julie was sure she had never been so happy in her whole life, sitting in that truck bed with Tim Riggins, who had just told her that he loved her.

Matt and second-guessing be damned. Julie knew she was right where she needed to be.


	37. Like a Promise

**_Like a Promise_**

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi, friends! GlibLittleActor has a NEW Tulie fic called Secret Shenanigans that I absolutely LOVE! Go check it out!

* * *

"Girls like hearts and shit, right?" Tim asked Tyra. Unlike Tim and Lyla, he and Tyra had somehow managed to have a really good friendship despite their history. Their friendship was much, _much_ better than their relationship had ever been.

It probably helped the fact that Tim's brother and Tyra's sister had gotten together. He reckoned they better get along if there was a chance they might be family.

"I don't know," Tyra said with a smirk. She took a pull of the beer she was sharing with Tim. He had insisted they share one when Tyra offered him one, because he didn't want a whole one. He had to remind himself to walk the straight and narrow and get used to it before college. "Does Julie Taylor like hearts and shit?"

"I'm not good at stuff like this, Tyra," Tim grumbled, his cheeks turning pink to Tyra's amusement.

"You mean romantic stuff? You don't gotta tell me that. I remember."

"Okay, hear me out." Tim leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I know it's all kind of crazy. Like, even I was never dumb enough to think I would date Coach's daughter or get to play college ball."

Tyra's face softened. Despite all of Tim's, let's be honest here, _fuck ups_ , Tyra had always thought he was a good guy deep down. Deep, deep down. Somehow, Julie Taylor pulled that out of him.

"I know I've messed up more than anything else I've ever done, okay? But I'm tryin' hard here, for Jules. I don't deserve any of it, I know that, but I'm tryin' damn hard to do it all right."

"Okay," Tyra said softly. "So, tell me what you're trying to do right."

"You know better than anyone that I'm a dumbass." Tim had long since apologized for what he did to Tyra after Jason's accident. "I mean, the whole town knows. Jules knows, even if she'll never admit it. I know she's worried about me going to Lubbock, so, I dunno, I wanted to get her something before I leave."

"Like a ring?" Tyra asked, eyebrow raised. She took great amusement in watching Tim vehemently shake his head.

"Coach would kill me, I'm not trying to die here. But girls do like jewelry, right? Necklaces and stuff like that?"

"Yeah, they do." It wasn't until now that Tyra ever knew how much she liked to watch Tim Riggins squirm. She thought it was adorable. And she was amazed she wasn't even bitter that Tim never put forth this kind of effort for her. "I think it's a sweet idea. She would love it."

"You really think so?" When Tim peeked up shyly from underneath his eyelashes, he looked much more boyish than his eighteen years.

"Yeah, I do. All girls melt over junk like this, even if we say we won't." Tyra gave him one of her big smiles. "I'll even help you pick one out."

* * *

A week later, they went a town over, because of course there were no jewelry stores in Dillon. And Tim, with his stubborn ways, didn't trust ordering something offline.

They settled on a rose gold necklace—"Prettier than yellow gold or silver," according to Tyra—with two intertwined hearts.

"It will be symbolic," Tyra explained. "Together in your hearts even miles about, or something sappy like that."

Tyra was sure it would be a hit. Tim literally had no clue, so he just rolled with the advice of his friend.

"You really think she'll like it?" Tim asked. The necklace felt so light in the palm of his hand.

"I do. It even has hearts and shit," Tyra teased him, earning herself a nervous smile.

This was the kind of help he had needed. When Tim had broached the same plan to Street, he had teased him for going soft.

Tim wasn't sure why, but he was terribly nervous to give it to Julie. It was just a necklace, right? Just something you wear. It wasn't _really_ a big deal.

That's what he was telling himself, anyway. Even so, he keeps it like a secret in a drawer in his bedroom. He was saving it for some plans he already had in place with Julie. With summer winding down, Tim had thought it was only right to take Julie out before things got too busy with their impending school years.

"Curfew is still midnight-thirty!" Coach called to them as Tim led Julie out the front door, his hand on the small of her back.

"Dad, we're going to that concert!" Julie called back with an eye roll. Her dad thought he was hilarious, saying 'midnight-thirty' instead of 'twelve-thirty'.

"Oh, that's right…You get a special two a.m. curfew tonight only!"

Tami tacked on a 'be safe!' as the two teenagers left. Tim opened the truck door for Julie and held a hand out to help her make the step up into the cab in her high heels.

"I'm being spoiled tonight," Julie teased him with a sweet smile. Her brown eyes were sparkling with excitement. There was never a lot to do in Dillon, so she was excited for a 'real' date night with Tim.

"Your feet are going to hurt like hell," Tim told her. He was taking her to a concert for some band Julie liked called _Spoon_. Tim ever-so-affectionately referred to Julie's taste in music as 'weird garage stuff', though Julie herself called it indie. Whatever it was, this band was playing just a town over.

"I'm sure you'll carry me if I asked really nice." Tim shrugged. The jewelry box the necklace was in made for the slightest of weights in his pocket, though it felt heavier than it was.

Julie had once explained indie music to Tim as it being music that was not mainstream, meaning not a lot of people knew about it. Still, Tim was pretty sure there was a lot of people at the concert venue by the time they got there.

In fact, there was enough that even with Julie's heels, she couldn't properly see the stage. Tim didn't care one way or the other for himself, but he wanted Julie to get something out of it. He helped a giggling Julie lift herself onto his shoulders so she could see better.

Tim wrapped his fingers around the bare skin of her thighs, left exposed by the Daisy Duke style shorts she wore. He felt her own hands play with his hair. If he carefully tilted his head just enough, he could see her smiling and singing along with the band.

He was happy she was happy. Personally, Tim didn't see the appeal of this band. He didn't even mind holding Julie up on his shoulders for the whole concert. It was well after midnight by the time the show ended, but they still had plenty of time to make their curfew.

"How are you tired?" Tim asked a yawning Julie as they made their way back through the crowd. "You didn't even do any standing!"

"Oh, hush," she said, wrapping herself around Tim's waist as soon as they escaped the crush of the crowd. "Thank you for bringing me. I know you hated it."

"I did not hate it." His arm came to rest around Julie's shoulders.

"Well, I know you didn't really _like_ it, so just take my gratitude." Tim dropped a kiss on the top of her blonde head. Despite not even using them for most of the night, Julie kicked her heels off as soon as she was in Tim's truck.

They had plenty of time to get back to Dillon after the concert. Tim snaked a lazy route home, holding Julie's hand the whole time.

"We've still got some time," Tim told Julie as they edged back to Dillon. "Want to see something cool?"

Her face was lit up green from the radio lights as she nodded. So Tim turned the truck left and took her around the outskirts of Dillon until they reached the spot Tim had in mind. From this spot, you could see all the city lights of Dillon. It was mostly street lights, considering what a small town Dillon was, but it was still one of Tim's favorite spots.

Tim backed the truck up so that they could sit on the bed and look out over it all. Julie curled herself up beside him, tucking herself under his arm. "This is pretty."

"I thought you might think so."

"I like tonight."

"Oh, yeah?" Tim hoped she couldn't notice his heartbeat pounding. He couldn't figure out why he was so nervous over this. It wasn't even the necklace; it was the words he had ran through in his head all day. He hoped he could make them come out of his mouth. "Hey, sit up for a second."

Tim positioned Julie in front of him and told her to close her eyes. He hoped that he had enough light to get the necklace around her neck. Moving her hair aside, he clasped it together. The metal was cool against Julie's skin in the muggy summer air.

"What's this?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking down at the intertwined hearts. She picked up where it rested against her chest and held it between her fingertips so she could see it better. No boy had ever bought her jewelry before.

"Tiiiiiim!" Julie dragged his name out farther than three letters ever should be. He gave her a sheepish smile. "I love this!"

She launched herself forward and kissed him on the mouth. Julie was so excited to have it that she didn't even question _why_ he decided to give her a random present in late summer. Her curiosity got the better of her, though, and she had to ask.

"What's this for?" Tim shrugged while Julie positioned herself to rest against his chest.

"I dunno," he said shyly. "I just wanted you to have something, you know, because I'm gonna be leaving."

"Are you afraid I'll forget you as soon as you leave city limits?" Julie teased.

"It's like a promise," Tim said, thinking his own voice sounded lame. "Like, nothing is gonna change next year. I'm all in, with you, and only you, no matter what."

While Tim felt like he was tripping over his words like a complete idiot, Julie wore the biggest smile. She couldn't be happier.

"I'm gonna wear it every day," she told him. "Forever and ever."


End file.
